Training levy on businesses may fall short by €30m

The money that could be raised for further and higher education from a proposed hike in employers’ contributions is €30m less than what two Government ministers have suggested.

Education Minister Richard Bruton and Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Paschal Donohoe are seeking responses from industry, employers, and others to their plan to increase a levy that businesses pay into the National Training Fund (NTF).

The plan is to increase it, between 2018 and 2020, from 0.7% to 1% of most employees’ earnings. This would see employers pay an extra €100 a year in respect of each worker on a €35,000 salary, but the ministers have set a deadline of April 13 for submissions on the proposal.