96% of UK levy payers don't spend their full pot. £3.3 billion has expired back to HMRC since 2019. From August 2026, new contributions expire in 12 months — not 24. We make sure none of yours does.
Take control of your levy.
The Apprenticeship Levy was renamed the Growth and Skills Levy. From 1 August 2026, new contributions expire after 12 months — half the existing 24-month window. Funds in the account before that date follow the old rules through to their original expiry.
Most finance and HR teams are still planning against the old playbook. The result: workforce plans built around 24-month horizons that won't survive the new rule.
And critically: a signed contract with a training provider does not protect funds. Only a live commitment on the Apprenticeship Service platform stops the clock.
A side-by-side of what's changed under the Growth and Skills Levy reforms. If your last levy review pre-dates April 2025, every line below is new ground.
We do one thing — help businesses take full control of their levy. Engage us for the audit, the management, the transfer brokering, or all three.
A structured review of your Apprenticeship Service account: what you've paid in, what's been spent, what's expiring on which clock, and which funds are currently at risk.
We unlock your levy and connect it to the right activity — apprenticeships, flexible short courses, AI Leadership units — aligned to your workforce plan, then make sure the funds get put to work, on time and on plan.
If you can't spend it, transfer it. We match unused levy to vetted SMEs and charities — turning expiring funds into measurable social impact under the new 50% transfer rule.
A short, defined engagement designed to fit around your finance and HR teams — not the other way round.
30 minutes. We understand the business, the headcount, the levy size, and what's already been tried.
A review of your Apprenticeship Service account. You receive a written summary and a figure for funds at risk of expiry.
Prioritised roadmap: what to spend internally, what to transfer, what to book before the next expiry tranche.
We coordinate — providers, transfers, platform admin, board reporting. Ongoing or one-off, your choice.
If you're a UK SME or registered charity, you may be eligible to receive levy funds from a larger employer to fund apprenticeships in your team — at no cost to you. The transfer cap is now 50%.
We work with a curated network of registered apprenticeship providers. If you deliver high-quality programmes — including the new short course and Apprenticeship Unit formats — get in touch.
30 minutes. We'll tell you what's actually in your account.
Request a discovery call →A specialist advisory built around a single, focused service line — and a founder who has spent years helping organisations operate better, smarter and more efficiently.
The Apprenticeship Levy — now operating as the Growth and Skills Levy — was meant to be simple. UK employers with a payroll above £3 million pay 0.5% into a digital account, and use that account to fund apprenticeships and skills inside their business.
In practice, it's anything but simple. Funds expire on a rolling clock that's about to get shorter. Provider procurement is a maze. The rules have shifted — flexible short courses, AI Leadership Units, a 50% transfer cap, Level 7 age restrictions. Most finance and HR teams haven't been able to recalibrate.
"96% of levy payers don't spend their full pot. We exist to change that."
We listen first, then connect the parts that aren't talking, then build a plan that puts you back in control of your levy.
We are deliberately narrow. We do not do general HR consulting, broad L&D strategy, or fractional CHRO work. We do levy audits, levy management, and levy transfer brokering — and that's it.
Of where it goes.
You're paying the levy. We make sure you control where it goes — what it funds, when it's drawn down, and which clock it sits on.
On what's there.
A single document that tells you how much is in your levy account, how much expires in each of the next 24 months, and what you can do with it before it goes.
On what comes next.
A quarterly review of spend, expiry, and what's changed in the rules. The levy account doesn't sit still — neither does the plan.
LevySmart was founded by Harpreet Rai, who has spent his career in digital consulting — helping UK businesses and organisations operate more efficiently, deliver smarter outcomes, and get more value from the systems and frameworks they're already paying for.
Most conversations start with an audit. Most audits surface more than the client expected. Either way — you'll know.
Request a discovery call →Send a short message and we'll come back to you. Most enquiries get a reply within one working day. If you'd rather start with email or LinkedIn, those details are further down.
LevySmart is the trading name of Alturos Consulting Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales (Company No. 16613148). We help UK employers manage, spend, and transfer their Growth and Skills Levy funds.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, Alturos Consulting Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number CSN3154575.
How to contact us about your data:
Email: hello@levysmart.com
Postal address: 1096 Uxbridge Road, Hayes UB4 8QH
If you contact us about your personal data, please put "Data request" in the subject line so we can respond within the statutory timeframe.
This policy explains how we handle personal data in two contexts:
It also covers prospective clients we contact directly as part of our business development activity.
When you fill in our contact form or email us, we collect:
We do not use website analytics, advertising trackers, or session-recording tools. We do not log IP addresses for marketing purposes.
When you engage us for advisory services, we will additionally collect:
We do not collect personal data about apprentices or learners themselves. Where apprentice-level data appears in your Apprenticeship Service account, we work with aggregate figures and de-identified summaries.
In the course of business development, we may hold the following information about individuals at organisations we have not yet engaged with:
We do not source personal data from data brokers or scrape personal data from social media. Prospecting data is sourced from public registers, company websites, professional networking platforms used for legitimate business contact, and B2B information services that are themselves UK-GDPR-compliant.
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each type of processing. Here is ours:
| What we do | Lawful basis (UK GDPR Article 6) |
|---|---|
| Respond to your contact form or email enquiry | Legitimate interest (responding to your enquiry) |
| Deliver advisory services under an engagement letter | Performance of a contract with you |
| Hold and use prospecting data to make initial business development contact | Legitimate interest (B2B contact about a specific regulated funding obligation) |
| Send follow-up information at your request | Consent |
| Send periodic updates to existing or recent enquirers about levy-related developments | Legitimate interest (soft opt-in under PECR Regulation 22(3)) |
| Keep records of engagements for tax, accounting, and regulatory purposes | Legal obligation |
| Defend ourselves against complaints or legal claims | Legitimate interest |
You can object to any processing based on legitimate interest — see "Your rights" below.
We have considered the balance between our legitimate business interest in identifying organisations that may benefit from our services, and the privacy rights of the individuals we contact. Our prospecting:
We believe this balance falls in favour of legitimate interest. If you disagree, you can object at any time and we will stop.
We use the following service providers (data processors) to operate our business. Each is bound by a written agreement requiring them to protect your data and use it only for the purposes we specify.
| Processor | What they do | Where data is held |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Website hosting (Cloudflare Pages), DNS management, edge content delivery | Global edge network with UK / EU data centres prioritised for European traffic; corporate entity is US-based, with data transfers governed by the UK Addendum to EU Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Formspree, Inc. | Contact form submission processing — receives the data you enter into our contact form and forwards it to our business email inbox | United States, with data transfers governed by the UK Addendum to EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Formspree retains submission records for technical delivery diagnostics; we do not store contact form submissions on Formspree's platform beyond the period needed to deliver the message |
| Google (Google Workspace) | Business email accounts (hello@ and harpreet.rai@levysmart.com) | EU and UK data centres under standard contractual clauses |
We do not use third-party analytics, advertising platforms, or marketing automation tools on the public website.
If we engage additional processors in future (for example, an accountancy practice or a CRM platform), we will update this policy accordingly.
We do not sell your data, share it with marketing partners, or use it to train AI models.
| Category | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Contact form submissions and email enquiries (no engagement) | 12 months from the date of last contact, then deleted |
| Active client engagement records | Duration of engagement + 6 years (HMRC and limitation-period requirements) |
| Prospecting data (no contact made) | 12 months, then reviewed for relevance and either refreshed or deleted |
| Prospecting data (one or more contact attempts, no engagement) | 12 months from last contact, then deleted unless you have explicitly opted in to ongoing updates |
| Marketing opt-ins | Until you withdraw consent, or 24 months without engagement, whichever is sooner |
| Records required by law (tax, accounting, regulatory) | As required by the relevant law (typically 6 years for HMRC) |
Where retention periods differ between categories, we apply the longest applicable period to a given record.
The personal data described in this policy is held primarily within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area (EEA). Our email infrastructure (Google Workspace) holds data in EU and UK data centres.
Two of our processors involve transfers outside the UK/EEA:
Both transfers are governed by the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, which is the recognised legal mechanism for international personal data transfers under UK data protection law. If you would prefer not to use the contact form, you can email us directly at hello@levysmart.com, in which case only Google Workspace processes your data.
If we engage additional processors that involve material data transfers outside the UK/EEA, we will update this policy to disclose them.
Under UK GDPR you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
To exercise any of these rights, email hello@levysmart.com with "Data request" in the subject line. We will respond within one calendar month, as required by law. Most requests are free; we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse manifestly unfounded or excessive requests, in line with UK GDPR.
There is no charge for exercising your rights.
We use industry-standard measures appropriate to the scale and nature of our business, including:
No system is perfectly secure. If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify the ICO within 72 hours and notify affected individuals without undue delay, as required by UK GDPR.
We will only send you marketing communications (newsletters, levy-related updates, service announcements) if:
Every marketing email we send will include a clear, free, one-click way to unsubscribe. You can also email hello@levysmart.com at any time to opt out.
We do not send marketing by SMS, automated phone calls, or fax.
This website uses minimal essential resources to display correctly. We do not set tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or analytics cookies. See our Cookies Notice for details.
LevySmart's services are aimed at organisational decision-makers in HR, finance, L&D, and executive roles. Our website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe we hold data about a child, please contact us and we will delete it.
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or the law. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page tells you when the current version took effect. Material changes (for example, adding a new processor or changing a retention period) will be flagged at the top of the policy for at least 30 days after the change.
If you have an active engagement with us, we will notify you of material changes by email.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please contact us first at hello@levysmart.com. We aim to resolve concerns within 14 days.
If you remain unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:
This notice explains how levysmart.com uses cookies and similar technologies. It applies to anyone who visits the website. It works alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal data more broadly.
A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your device (computer, phone, tablet) when you visit. Cookies are widely used to make websites work properly, remember your preferences, or track your behaviour across sites for advertising.
UK and EU law (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, or PECR) requires that:
We do not currently set any cookies on your device.
Specifically, this website does not use:
The only data the website processes is the information you actively submit through the contact form, which is covered in our Privacy Policy.
This means we do not display a cookie consent banner, because we have nothing to ask consent for. If at any point we add cookies that are not strictly necessary, we will add a banner before they are set, in line with PECR.
When you submit the contact form, your browser sends the information you have entered (name, email, organisation, message) to our form processor, Formspree, which forwards it to our business email inbox at hello@levysmart.com. See our Privacy Policy for full details on Formspree as a data processor.
The submission process does not set any cookies on your device. Your browser may briefly hold a record of the page you visited, but that is browser history, not a cookie set by us.
If we add any of the following in future, we will update this notice and add a clearly visible cookie consent banner that lets you accept or reject non-essential cookies before any are set:
We will not add advertising or marketing tracking cookies. That is a deliberate choice and forms part of how we operate.
Even though we don't set any, you can control cookies generally through your browser settings. Each browser handles this differently:
You can block all cookies, allow only first-party cookies, or delete existing cookies at any time.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has more general guidance at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/online.
If you have any questions about cookies on this website, please email hello@levysmart.com.
These Terms of Engagement set out the basis on which Alturos Consulting Ltd (trading as LevySmart) provides advisory services to its clients. They apply to all engagements unless varied in writing.
These Terms govern the relationship between:
In these Terms:
Each engagement begins when you confirm in writing your acceptance of an Engagement Letter we have issued to you. The Engagement Letter sets out:
If there is any conflict between an Engagement Letter and these Terms, the Engagement Letter prevails for the engagement it covers. These Terms apply to all matters not specifically addressed in the Engagement Letter.
We will not begin substantive work on a client matter until you have confirmed acceptance of an Engagement Letter in writing. Discovery calls, scoping conversations, and preliminary discussions before an Engagement Letter is signed are without charge and without contractual commitment on either side.
LevySmart offers three service lines:
The specific scope of each engagement is set out in its Engagement Letter.
LevySmart is an advisory firm. We provide guidance, analysis, recommendations, and coordination. We do not:
Where any of the above are needed, we will identify the issue and recommend that you obtain appropriate specialist advice. We do not receive referral fees or commissions for any third-party referral we make.
Where the Services require us to view information held in your Apprenticeship Service Account, you will provide that information to us in one of two ways:
We do not require, request, or hold the login credentials to your Apprenticeship Service Account.
In the course of Transfer Brokering or Levy Management engagements, training providers we recommend or coordinate with may pay LevySmart a fixed fee. This is disclosed to you in writing in the Engagement Letter for any engagement in which it applies. We do not accept undisclosed commissions, kickbacks, or referral arrangements that are not disclosed to the Client in advance.
Fees for each engagement are set out in the Engagement Letter. Fees may be structured as:
We do not charge time-and-materials hourly rates as a default. Where a specific engagement is scoped in this way, it will be clearly stated in the Engagement Letter.
All fees are exclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. VAT will be applied at the prevailing rate where applicable.
Reasonable, pre-agreed expenses (such as long-distance travel) will be invoiced at cost with receipts provided. Expenses below £50 in aggregate per engagement are not separately invoiced.
We invoice in accordance with the schedule set out in the Engagement Letter. Typical patterns include:
Invoices are payable within 30 days of the invoice date by bank transfer to the account specified on the invoice.
If an invoice is not paid by its due date:
We will always contact you about an overdue invoice before taking any of the above steps.
To allow us to deliver the Services effectively, you agree to:
If we are delayed or prevented from delivering the Services because of a delay or omission on your part, we will not be liable for the delay and we may revise the timeline or fees accordingly.
When you have paid all fees due for an engagement, you receive a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use the Deliverables we provide to you for your own internal business purposes.
The following remain the property of LevySmart at all times and are not transferred to you:
You may not redistribute the Deliverables externally, publish them, or use them to create derivative works for sale.
We may use anonymised, aggregated information from engagements to improve our services, develop benchmarks, and inform our advisory work for other clients. We will not disclose information that identifies you, your organisation, or any individual at your organisation in any such use.
We will not name you publicly as a client, publish a case study about our work for you, or use your logo on our website or marketing materials without your prior written agreement.
Each party agrees to keep confidential all non-public information disclosed by the other party in connection with the engagement, including:
Confidentiality does not apply to information that:
Confidentiality obligations continue for 6 years after the engagement ends.
We may share Confidential Information internally with members of the LevySmart team and with our professional advisers (accountant, solicitor, insurer) who are themselves bound by confidentiality.
Where we process personal data on your behalf in the course of the Services, you are the data controller and LevySmart acts as a data processor, in each case as defined in the UK GDPR.
When acting as a processor on your behalf, we will:
We will, on your request, sign a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) recording the matters required by Article 28 of the UK GDPR, in either our standard form or a reasonable form provided by you.
The sub-processors we currently use are listed in our Privacy Policy. We will inform you in advance of any addition or replacement of sub-processors who handle your personal data.
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for:
Subject to clause 9.1, LevySmart's total liability to you in respect of an engagement (whether arising in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise) is capped at the total fees paid or payable by you for that engagement.
Subject to clause 9.1, neither party is liable for indirect, consequential, or special losses, including loss of profits, loss of business, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goodwill, or loss of data, however arising.
LevySmart provides advisory guidance based on published HMRC and Department for Education rules and guidance as understood at the time of the advice. We are not responsible for:
We strongly recommend that any material decision affecting tax position or regulatory compliance is reviewed with your tax advisor or solicitor before action.
LevySmart maintains professional indemnity insurance appropriate to the nature and scale of its business. Details are available on request.
The engagement runs for the period set out in the Engagement Letter, or until the Services are completed, whichever is sooner.
Either party may terminate an engagement on 14 days' written notice to the other.
Either party may terminate an engagement with immediate effect by written notice if the other party:
On termination of an engagement:
Any formal notice under these Terms must be in writing and sent to the relevant party at the address or email specified in the Engagement Letter.
No variation of these Terms is effective unless agreed in writing by both parties. An Engagement Letter signed by both parties constitutes such a variation for the engagement it covers.
Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship between us. Neither party may bind the other.
You may not assign or transfer your rights under an engagement without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights to a successor entity in connection with the sale, restructuring, or transfer of our business, on giving you written notice.
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including (but not limited to) acts of God, governmental action, civil disturbance, or substantial failure of utilities or telecommunications. The affected party will notify the other promptly and use reasonable efforts to resume performance.
These Terms, together with the relevant Engagement Letter, constitute the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the engagement and supersede any prior representations, understandings, or agreements.
A person who is not a party to an engagement has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of these Terms.
If a dispute arises between us, we agree to attempt to resolve it through good-faith discussion before escalating. Either party may request a meeting of senior representatives to discuss the dispute, which will be held within 14 days of the request.
If the dispute cannot be resolved through direct discussion, the parties agree to consider mediation through a recognised UK mediation service before commencing legal proceedings.
These Terms and any engagement under them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in relation to any dispute that cannot be resolved under clauses 12.1 or 12.2.