Asda has called on the government to overhaul its apprenticeship levy scheme, which requires businesses with a payroll of over £3m to contribute 0.5% to the levy and support the growth of apprentices in the UK. 

The supermarket said it had been using the scheme since it began in 2020, supporting four pharmacy tech level 3 apprentices and one pharmacy assistant level 2 at other UK pharmacy businesses, though it doesn’t use any pharmacy apprentices in its stores.  

But it called for reform of the levy transfer system so “more businesses can benefit” saying a “more flexible and simpler system is crucial to providing more opportunities for young people to develop and upskill themselves.” 

Read more: ‘You’re Hired!’: Can apprentices play a bigger role in pharmacy? 

Asda’s ‘levy transfer’ allows up to 50% of funds to be sent to other businesses for their own apprenticeships. It supported 135 apprentices across 55 businesses last year, including pharmacy technicians and pharmacy assistants.  

But it said £7.68m was not used “due to restrictions on the type of apprenticeships and training posed by the government’s levy scheme”. 

And it called for the government to “deliver the proposed Growth and Skills Levy as soon as possible” just as National Apprenticeship Week gets underway. 

Read more: ‘Accept these terms or go’: Asda pharmacists face redundancy over new contracts 

It comes as C+D visited a London pharmacy to see how apprentices are benefitting their community, and the finances of its owner. 

This week, C+D found that the number of pharmacies Asda operated dropped year-on-year by six to 226 for the end of the second quarter of 2024/25. 

And C+D exclusively reported in December that Asda pharmacists at “some stores” who refuse to “align to [Asda’s] new model” have been offered redundancy.