Co-op has committed £70 million towards creating 7,000 apprenticeships by 2030 through its Levy Share.

The move comes as apprenticeship starts have dropped by 31 per cent since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017, according to data from the Department for Education.

The supermarket chain has already raised £40 million for apprenticeships, which it says is supporting underrepresented groups, with 31 per cent of apprentices identifying as non-white British, 67 per cent as women, and 16 per cent declaring a disability.

Co-op is calling for Skills England to start collecting SocioEconomic Background (SEB) data for apprenticeships, suggesting that without this the system risks "leaving some groups behind."

Claire Costello, chief people and inclusion officer at Co-op said that the company launched its Levy Share to unlock unused levy funds and “turn waste into opportunity.”

“Four years on, alongside our contributing partners, we’ve already channelled £40 million into thousands of lifechanging apprenticeships, and today we’re going further, committing £70 million to create 7,000 apprenticeships by 2030,” she continued. “But to truly drive social mobility, we need to measure who benefits.”

Launched in 2021, Co-op Levy Share enables levy paying employers to transfer unused apprenticeship levy funds to businesses, charities, and community organisations.

In a four-year period, the scheme has matched over 3,800 apprenticeships, with two-thirds in the most deprived communities and a third in the care sector.

Co-op says it is helping tackle skills shortages in areas like rail engineering, early years education through its partnership with The Early Years’ Foundation, and digital.

Earlier this year, Co-op announced it will offer rail engineering apprenticeships to prisoners to tackle a skills shortage in the UK market and reduce reoffending rates.

The move will allow prisoners to complete full apprenticeships and their end-point assessments before release.

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