Leading universities and business leaders call for investment in skills through apprenticeship levy flexibility Connect with the University Release Date 10 May 2021 A group of leading universities, students unions and businesses have called on the Government to invest in skills through greater flexibility of apprenticeship levy funds. In a letter sent to the Government, the leaders of ten universities along with multinational companies, local enterprise partnerships and student representatives have recommended that urgent action is taken to prioritise skills funding as the United Kingdom looks towards an economic recovery following the pandemic. Writing to the Treasury and Department for Education which is responsible for the Government’s skills agenda, the group of signatories make the case for a time-limited broadening of apprenticeship levy funding to be used for the skills ‘agenda’. The letter also calls on Ministers to look at proposals for companies to be able to use their unspent apprenticeship levy to tackle regional skills gaps in locally-led partnerships between businesses and educational providers.