Hi Laura, I think in this case one of the best things to do is link back to your L&D strategy / spend some time developing one. What are the challenges your business is likely to face as it grows / ventures into new markets / works with bigger clients etc. For example, if a number of current employees are likely to step into management roles as product of the headcount growth, you may wish to forecast for management development costs. If your frontline employees are going to have to play more of a role in customer success / sales, they’ll no doubt need support with this.  If your sales team are going to have to work differently e.g. use a new CRM, could you factor in systems training to your costs etc. You can then forecast based on at least some level of up front analysis. Also, speak to current employees to understand what their friction points are / perceived skills gaps etc and build this into your thinking.

On the other hand if your learning budget is more of a perk e.g. “we’re giving all of our employees a £250 learning budget to spend however they see fit” then I’ve seen anything from £100 per employee to £1000! You just have to forecast not just for next year but also for the year after and so on, as you’ll want to continue this benefit long term and so need to be able to afford it for 150-200 people too (if that’s your forecasted growth for example).

I hope that helped in some way! BTW I checked out Rootwave, what an awesome business idea!