At the end of September, Stuart Robert, the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business announced the new Completing Apprenticeship Commencements Program aimed at improving retention rates, and helping to grow the number of tradespeople in skill shortage areas. The program will provide eligible employers with a 10 per cent wage subsidy for apprentices in their second year and 5 per cent in their third year.
The additional subsidy is available to those employers eligible for the original Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements Program. That program continues until March 2022 and provides a 50 per cent wage subsidy over 12 months for newly commencing apprentices (capped at $7000 per quarter).
Apprenticeship completion rates have been in a black hole for a number of years and the additional incentives will help employers to retain their apprentices through to completion. The support will be particularly important for employers facing COVID financial pressures who had been weighing up whether they could afford to retain their apprentices.
