The government's apprenticeship levy on employers has been a disaster, according to the head of one of Britain's biggest business groups.

Dame Judith Hackitt, who chairs the EEF manufacturers' body, will say later that the levy is seen as just another tax on business, as reported by the BBC.

She will make the comments in a speech at the EEF's annual dinner, attended by Business Secretary Greg Clark.

Many companies have postponed or even halted apprenticeships because of the levy. Dame Judith is expected to say that it needs a complete overhaul.

The levy was introduced last April, making employers with an annual pay bill of £3m contribute 0.5% of their payroll towards a levy. The money can be claimed back to fund training for new or existing employees.

Business groups have expressed increasing concerns about it, with firms saying they struggled to understand how the system was meant to work.

Apprenticeship figures are down, with 114,000 apprenticeship starts for the first quarter of the 2017-18 academic year, compared with 155,600 for the same period in the previous academic year.