National
Australian Apprenticeships includes apprenticeships, traineeships, pre-apprenticeships, and higher apprenticeships in more than 500 occupations. Australian Apprenticeships are available to anyone of working age with eligibility to work in Australia, regardless of their level of education. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has responsibility for apprenticeships and traineeships for the federal government, and the Australian Apprenticeships website provides information for employers, apprentices and trainees.
The Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN) is the first point of contact for all queries about apprenticeships. The providers give personalised advice and support services from pre-commencement to completion. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment contracts the Apprenticeship Network providers while a Memorandum of Agreement between the Australian and State Governments formalises the cooperative monitoring of services of AASN Providers.
Created in 2001, the Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS) is the information technology (IT) system operated by the Australian Government that tracks Australian apprentice and trainee and employer relations, determines eligibility for, and makes payments.
Incentives:
The Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program Summary provides an overview of the incentives currently provided by the Australian government. The incentives include:
- Commencement incentives
- Recommencement incentives
- Completion incentives
- Additional Identified Skills Shortage payment (AISS) - available to eligible employers and apprentices for 10 occupations experiencing national skills shortages
- Australian Apprentice Wage Subsidy trial
- Australian School-based Apprenticeship incentive
- Assistance for Australian Apprentices with Disability
- Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements
- Mature Aged Worker incentives
- Payments to Australian Apprentices
- Rural and Regional Skills Shortage incentive
- Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (final claims for payment must be submitted by 30 June 2021)
- Support for Adult Australian Apprentices
- Trade Support Loans - the Trade Support Loans Priority List identifies the list of qualifications and occupations eligible to receive a loan.
The guidelines and appendices to the Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program (AAIP) are available from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Program (AAIP) was scheduled to be replaced on 1 July 2021 with a new, simplified and streamlined program, however its commencement was deferred due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. From 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024, the first phase of the new Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System (AAIS) will provide wage subsidies for eligible employers in priority occupations. Hiring incentives will be available for employers of apprentices undertaking a qualification in an occupation that does not qualify for the Australian Apprenticeship Priority List. From 1 July 2024, following a checkpoint to assess progress, support will only be available for priority occupations, through a mix of employer and apprentice payments.
National Agreements supporting the funding of Australian Apprenticeships:
- The JobTrainer Fund was announced as part of the Australian Government economic response to COVID-19. The Australian Government allocated $500 million for the fund in 2020-21, to be matched by contributions from state and territory governments. The JobTrainer Schedule establishes shared funding arrangements between the Commonwealth and states and territories. The fund supports a rapid increase in low or no fee training places for jobseekers, school leavers and young people in areas of identified skills need and/or employment growth, to support them into employment as Australia emerges from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Under the JobTrainer package, the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy was also available to small and medium-sized business employers to retain apprentices and trainees in work. As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the Australian Government announced it would commit an additional $500 million, to be matched by state and territory governments, to extend the program until 31 December 2022.
- The purpose of the Skilling Australians Fund is to contribute to improved employment outcomes by supporting Australians to obtain the skills and training they need for jobs in demand through increasing the uptake of apprenticeships and traineeships and other relevant employment-related training. Managed through a project based National Partnership, the fund was established to ensure that the businesses that benefit from employing skilled migrants are also skilling Australians. Employers that sponsor migrants under the temporary skill shortage visa and certain permanent skills visas are required to pay a levy to generate revenue for the fund. From 2019-20 to 2021-22, the Commonwealth will provide an estimated financial contribution to the States of $50 million each year plus actual revenue from the levy collected in the previous financial year, with contributions to be matched by the states. Payment to the states is contingent on reaching the agreed benchmarks of additional apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship and higher apprenticeship commencements above the agreed baseline commencements, and milestones set out in the states’ project schedules. Any commencements counted are not intended to duplicate training efforts under the JobTrainer program. The Agreement expires on 30 June 2022.
- The National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD) addresses delivery of services across the skills and workforce development sector. The National Agreement is associated with the Skills and Workforce Development National Specific Purpose Payments (SPP), where the Australian Government provides funding of around $1.5 billion annually to state and territory governments to support them in the delivery of VET services and the running of their training systems. On 15 November 2019, the Treasurer and the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business requested the Productivity Commission to review the NASWD. Following an interim report released in June 2020 the Productivity Commission released its final report on the review of the NASWD on 21 January 2021. The Australian, state and territory governments have committed to work collaboratively on long-term improvements to the VET sector through a new National Skills Agreement by August 2021.