Apprenticeship Reboot extended to 14,000 places

High demand for the Government’s Apprenticeship Reboot means the Government has decided to add another 4000 places on top of the 10,000 already funded, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The $31.2 million Apprenticeship Reboot was announced in January by Prime Minister John Key, as part of an overhaul of the apprenticeship scheme to get more apprentices qualified and more in priority trades.

Since March, the first 10,000 new eligible apprentices/trainees who sign up for training have been able to apply for a subsidy of $1000 towards the cost of tools and off-job course costs, or $2000 for those in priority trades. Employers are also eligible for an equal payment.

“We expect to see the 10,000th apprentice sign up before the end of the year, which is great news and well ahead of schedule. So far, 67 per cent of new apprentices who have signed up have been in the priority construction trades,” Mr Joyce says.

“We want to keep this momentum going, as there is a big opportunity over the next few years, particularly with the rebuilding of Christchurch and the coming housing construction boom in Auckland, to train more New Zealanders in vocational careers that will set them up for their working lives while supporting economic growth in New Zealand.”

The Government has committed funding of up to $18 million for an additional 4,000 New Zealand apprentices for the first quarter of 2014. The extension will be funded by reprioritisation within Vote Tertiary Education.

“With the Reboot and the introduction of New Zealand Apprenticeships we had estimated that around 14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the 7,000 who enrol normally. We are currently running significantly ahead of that,” Mr Joyce says.

New Zealand Apprenticeships combine Modern Apprenticeships and other apprenticeship-type training under an expanded and improved scheme. Commencing on 1 January 2014, they will provide the same level of support, and the same level of subsidy, for all apprentices, regardless of their age.

The Apprentice Reboot and New Zealand Apprentices are part of a suite of changes the Government has made to the industry training system to make it more effective, including a boost to the educational content of apprenticeships.

“Under the previous Government there were up to 100,000 ‘phantom trainees’ enrolled in industry training who achieved no credits and in some cases were no longer alive,” Mr Joyce says.

“We’ve put a stop to that, and delivered the reforms that will set New Zealand industry training up to deliver on our Business Growth Agenda goals of lifting productivity, delivering higher wages and living standards, and building a faster-growing and more competitive economy for New Zealand.”