Costs and incentives
Incentives
Employers taking on an apprentice or trainee may be eligible for a range of Commonwealth Government incentives and personal assistance programs from their Australian Apprenticeships Centres. To find out if you are eligible, contact your Australian Apprenticeships Centre or visit the Australian Apprenticeships website.
Costs
The costs involved in employing an apprentice or trainee may include:
- recruitment costs to find the right person for the apprenticeship or traineeship
- training costs
- wages and entitlements including
- superannuation
- workers' compensation
- cost of supplying tools (if required)
- cost of providing special equipment (if required).
The department has contracted a number of training organisations to deliver training for all apprenticeships and some traineeships at a minimal or no cost to the apprentice, trainee or the employer. This is referred to as User Choice and more information can be obtained from the Training website.
You have the option of selecting one of these training organisations to deliver the training for the apprenticeship or traineeship. Information regarding these training organisations is available from the Queensland Training Information Service (QTIS). If your apprentice or trainee attends training with one of these training organisations, they may be required to pay a small student fee, but all other training fees will be covered by the department's contract with that training organisation.
Alternatively, you can choose to pay the full fee for training delivered by an organisation that does not have a contract with the department.
The training organisation that you and your apprentice or trainee decides on must advise of any fees to be paid. You may choose to pay these fees on behalf of your apprentice or trainee.
What should I pay my apprentice or trainee?
The wages and entitlements for apprentices and trainees are prescribed by the relevant award or agreement. If you are having difficulty working out which award or agreement applies to you, call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.
Apprentice and trainee general entitlements
Workers' compensation - apprentices and trainees are entitled to workers' compensation in the same way as any other employee. For more information, contact WorkCover Queensland on 1300 362 128 or visit the WorkCover website.
Superannuation - you must pay superannuation into an approved fund for your apprentice or trainee, just as you do with any other employee. You should provide your apprentice or trainee with the appropriate superannuation paperwork on commencement.
Tool entitlement - for some apprenticeships, you must provide tools or pay a tool entitlement to your apprentice. To find out which apprenticeships require you to supply tools, contact Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.
Cost of training existing employees
Existing employees undertaking apprenticeships or traineeships may be eligible to receive funded training from those training organisations that have a User Choice funding contract with the department.
To find out more about the Existing Workers Policy, read the Existing workers stakeholder reference.
To find out more about User Choice funding visit the Training website.