Financial boost for apprentices and their employers
Financial boost for apprentices and their employers
Beginning this month, apprentices and their employers will start receiving much needed support through the Apprenticeship Boost Scheme.
The $380.6 million Apprenticeship Boost is part of the Government’s wider Apprenticeship Support Programme — a cross-agency response which aims to help employers retain and bring on people into formal industry training including apprenticeships while dealing with the effects of COVID-19.
Apprenticeship Boost aims to help employers keep first and second year apprentices so they can continue to earn and progress towards their qualifications. This will also help ensure New Zealand has a pipeline of skilled workforce and help avoid skills shortages in the future.
Employers with an apprentice in their first year will be eligible for $1,000 support per month, and employers with an apprentice in their second year is eligible for $500 per month for a maximum period of 20 months.
For employers to be eligible for this support, their apprentices need to be enrolled in a New Zealand Apprenticeship or Managed Apprenticeship programme approved by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). Subsidy payments will be made to the employer, who must continue to pay the relevant minimum or training wage to their apprentice.
Apprentices are our future
“Apprentices are our future,” says Kim Milne, General Manager, People and Culture at AB Equipment, a machinery and heavy equipment company employing over 60 apprentices across their 20 centres nationwide.
“Having apprentices ensures we will have the essential skills in the future to service and maintain the machines and equipment we provide for our customers,” says Ms Milne.
“During these tough financial times, this Government support will help us maintain our current apprenticeship programme and continue our search for enthusiastic new recruits,” Ms Milne adds.
Graham Malungahu, one of AB Equipment’s apprentices says “I’m very pleased that the Government is offering more support for me and my employer”.
“It certainly gives me better job security during these unsettling times,” says Graham.
“In terms of AB Equipment, not only will this fund assist them to support my training, it will hopefully enable them to hire more apprentices which will help prepare our industry for the future,” Graham adds.
Photo: AB Equipment apprentice Graham Malungahu (left) with AB Equipment General Manager, People and Culture, Kim Milne
Strong demand
“Demand for trades training and apprenticeships has strengthened since the Government announced its initiatives to strengthen vocational training,” says Gus Gilmore, chief executive at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT)
“At MIT, semester two enrolments has been strong with a particular focus in trades,” says Mr Gilmore.
MIT has been working with employers and union groups to assist people into training and to ready them for a change in sector or vocation.
“We have also been holding open sessions where prospective learners and their whānau can come and know more about trades and other vocational pathways,” says Mr Gilmore.
“Over 50 percent of our students are Māori and Pasifika, and our Māori and Pasifika trades training has been promoted to our communities and has had good uptake,” he adds.
An enormous incentive
Nigel Philpott, chief executive of Primary Industry Training Organisation (Primary ITO), says “for many people and businesses, cost is a barrier to training, and this fund would be an enormous incentive.”
“We are getting a great deal of interest from industry and we’re making sure businesses, trainees and apprentices we work with have the information they need to avail of this support programme,” says Mr Philpott.
“We’re also getting in touch with businesses that have previously done training with us and encourage them to think about doing it again,” he adds.
Mr Philpott says “this financial support for employers to take on and retain apprentices will help stimulate a highly-skilled and engaged primary sector workforce for the future.”
Having the desired impact
Warwick Quinn, chief executive of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) says, “We are experiencing a strong rise in the level of enquiry and sign-ups due to both ‘free trades training’ (TTAF) and the Apprenticeship Boost scheme which shows these initiatives are having the desired impact.
Mr Quinn says BCITO has processed over 2,100 apprenticeship applications just in the past few weeks, more than double the number of sign ups in the same period last year. In addition, around 1,500 more applications are in the pipeline and yet to be processed.
“In the past, for every one employee who is laid off, four apprentices have been laid off, so as a sector we must ‘step up to the plate’ and do our part to ensure we continue to grow skills and avoid the skill shortages we inevitably face when the economy rebounds,” Mr Quinn adds.
Big increase in new apprentices
The Skills Organisation, New Zealand’s largest industry training organisation which manages apprenticeships in the electrical, plumbing, roofing and scaffolding industries, has seen a big increase in new apprentices for the months of June and July 2020.
“If we compare our numbers from June and July this year with the same period in 2019, we have seen an increase of over 200 percent for registered apprentices,” says Garry Fissenden, CEO of Skills. “Of those, 85 percent are brand new to apprenticeship training.
“Then, if we look at the number of employers signing up, again we have also seen a jump, with 237 new employers taking on an apprentice since 1 June 2020. And those employers are from across the board in terms of industries – from electrical, plumbing, roofing and scaffolding.”
How to apply
Employers can apply for the Apprenticeship Boost subsidy through the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) from 5 August. Information on the application process is available on the MSD website.
The government’s Apprenticeship Support Programme also includes the expansion of MSD’s Mana in Mahi programme, support for seven existing Group Training Schemes through the TEC and the new Regional Apprenticeships Initiative, funded through the Provincial Growth Fund, which will support employers in the regions to take on new apprentices.