Hon Steven Joyce
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment
6 March 2013 Media Statement
Early access to Apprenticeships Re-boot

New apprentices will be able to access the Government’s re-boot subsidy towards tools and off-job costs and start training sooner, following an announcement today by Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.

The ‘Apprenticeships Re-boot’ which was due to start on April 1, will instead commence immediately.

“The feedback we’ve had is that there are new apprentices keen to get in there and start training and employers who are eager to take them on, so rather than wait until April, we have brought the start date of the re-boot subsidy eligibility forward,” Mr Joyce says.

“This means that the first 10,000 new apprentices who enrol from today will be able to get a grant of $1,000 towards their tools and off-job costs, or $2,000 if they are in priority trades. Employers will receive a payment of the same amount for each apprentice they take on.

“There is a big opportunity over the next few years – particularly with the rebuilding of Christchurch – to train more New Zealanders in vocational careers that will set them up well for their working lives. This subsidy is part of our New Zealand Apprenticeship reforms which are creating a simpler, more effective, vocational training system in New Zealand.”

The re-boot subsidy will be payable to:
- New Modern Apprentices at Level 3 and 4 in 2013 only, and
- All industry trainees enrolled in a programme of study at Level 4 of 120 credits or more in 2013 and beyond

Modern Apprentices and industry trainees must be employed and actively training for 90 days before they receive the payment.

By rebooting apprenticeships the Government estimates there will be an additional 14,000 new apprentices starting training over the next five years – over and above the 7000 who normally enrol every year.

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/Industry_Training_Review_appendix_1.pdf

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/Cabinet_Paper.pdf

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