Agreement between an employer and DfE

Employers that recruit apprentices in England, must accept the employer agreement to access government funding through the apprenticeship service. The employer agreement is a legally binding contract between your organisation and the Department for Education (DfE)

The employer agreement includes the terms and conditions of:

•     using the apprenticeship service
•     using government funding to train and assess apprentices
•     working with the DfE

Who can accept the employer agreement

Only someone with the authority to enter into a legal agreement for your organisation can accept the agreement. 

They must also have the right apprenticeship service account permission. Your organisation’s account owner can check and change permissions in the ‘Your team’ page of your account.

Accepting the employer agreement

If your training provider sets up an apprenticeship service account for you, you’ll read and accept the agreement when you confirm the details they’ve added.

If you’ve created your account yourself, you do not need to accept the agreement until you’re ready to get or reserve funding, but we’ll ask you if you want to view it when you create an apprenticeship service account. 

You can create an apprenticeship service account without accepting the agreement. You can choose to do any of the following:

•     view the agreement, choose to accept it later, then finish creating an account
•     view the agreement and accept it, then finish creating an account
•     view the agreement, then finish creating an account and accept it later

You can accept it later within the  'Your organisations and agreements’ page of your account.

You can also view the agreement and guidance notes on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agreement-between-an-employer-and-the-education-and-skills-funding-agency-esfa. 

Last updated on 09 April 2025 14:51