Company sponsoring master's

[NotFarren]

What are people's experiences of this?
Understand they'd expect you to work for them after, that's totally understandable.

What if you already have a master's that you've self funded?

What does the small print say?

My second Masters was corporate funded, got study leave and expenses too. Only downside was they dictated research topic for dissertation and I had to stay 2 years

My first Masters I had a scholarship for, made no difference to the company.

What if you already have a master's that you've self funded?

Well, then you already have a master's..? Your employer doesn't really come into it. It has no relevance to whether they will or won't fund an additional masters really, unless you're asking them to fund a very similar one and they might rightly ask why you need it.

Essentially it's a private contract or addition to contract between the employer and employee and the terms can be anything they both agree to. Usually there is a repayment clause if you leave within a certain time period. An employer is most likely to sponsor it if it relates to your job or is a skill of use to them; nobody is likely to sponsor a masters in Russian literature unless you are a Russian literature translator. If the masters is offered as an apprenticeship, the cost to the company is effectively nil if they have space in their apprenticeship levy fund, which the vast majority of employers do, and they are barred from clawing back the cost, so I'd definitely check that first. The only downside for them is that they have to agree to sacrifice some of your work time, but if it supports your job that's usually a small price to pay.

I have had two MScs fully funded by my employer, one traditional style and one as an apprenticeship.

Used to be very common to sponsor a masters in my industry but less so now (probably combination of expense and availability of those who have funded their own masters). We still sponsor 2 per year. There is a clause about payback of fees if you don't stay for 2 years (but they never enforce). Most stay. Only know one in recent years who didnt.

Are they still allowed to use apprenticeship levy for masters? Or was that changed?

They are but only for degrees offered as Level 7 apprenticeships. Not much choice depending on the industry.
What bit of experience are you talking about OP...