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New Apprenticeship Budget Initiatives 2009 - 2010

Posted on Wednesday, 21 October 2009 | Permalink

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Australian Government is continuing its significant investment in and support for Apprenticeships through new streamlined measures.

These initiatives will support employers to take on and retain Apprentices by providing valuable employment and training opportunities for those Australians looking to gain skills or retrain. They will also ensure that Australia’s skills base is protected and maintained. It is important to maintain the flow of fully qualified tradespeople to support economic growth as the economy emerges from the downturn as it is anticipated that the demand for skills will strongly rebound.

The new Budget announcements streamline existing initiatives to eligible Apprentices and employers and aim to address the low take-up rates along with simplifying the administrative processes associated with the management of some of these initiatives.

The main Budget announcements, commencing on 1 January 2010 include:

  • Broadening eligibility for the $4,000 incentive payments to the employers of all Apprentices who are studying Diploma and Advanced Diploma level qualifications.
  • The extension of the Support for Mid-Career Apprentice payment from those aged 30 and over to those aged 25 and over. The new payment will be called ‘Support for Adult Apprentices’.
  • The enhancement of the ‘Tools For Your Trade’ voucher initiative to the new ‘Tools For Your Trade’ payment initiative for selected trade and agricultural Apprentices.


This combines and extends three existing separate support initiatives:

  • the Tools For Your Trade voucher
  • Apprenticeship Wage Top-Up
  • Commonwealth Trade Learning Scholarship



The new payment comprises five tax exempt cash payments totalling $3,800 paid over the life of the Apprenticeship.

  • The Apprenticeship Training (Fee) Vouchers (ATV) program will cease for new commencements from 1 July 2009. This program has been superseded by the Productivity Places Program
  • The Shared Completion incentive will cease as of 30 June 2009. For completions from 1 July 2009, the Completion Incentive will be paid to only the employer with whom the Apprentice is employed at the time of completion.