The apprenticeship levy will hit more than 16,000 schools, which will have to pay a combined £110 million into the fund, according to Department for Education estimates.

But, while all maintained schools are expected to contribute to the levy, the DfE predicts only half of single-school academies will be covered.

The levy, introduced this financial year, is a tax of 0.5 per cent, which can be used to train apprentices.

A Department for Education document published today states: “We estimated that over 16,000 schools (three quarters of the total) will pay a combined apprenticeship levy of around £110 million.”

The levy has been criticised for adding an extra pressure to maintained schools’ budgets - while exempting many academies from the costs.

This is because it is only paid by employers with annual wage bills of more than £3 million - and for maintained schools it is their local authority’s pay bill that is taken into account.

‘Bizarre unintended consequence’

The decision to include small maintained schools in this way was branded “the most bizarre unintended consequence in education policy” by Jonathan Simons, former head of education at Policy Exchange.

The document published today assumes that all community, voluntary-controlled schools and pupil referral units, and around 90 per cent of multi-academy trusts will have to pay the levy.

But only around half of single school academy trusts are expected to be covered, and only 10 per cent of foundation and voluntary-aided schools.

The DfE document sets out the costs facing schools over the next two years. It says: “At the national level, total core schools and high needs funding over the period will increase at 3.1 per cent on a per pupil basis. This slightly exceeds the latest forecast for the rate of inflation, which is 2.9 per cent over the same period.

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