Great news for our employers and trainees this week. The Government has extended the Apprenticeship Boost fund by four months so it now runs until August 2022. This means employers can gain an extra four months of wage subsidies for apprentices in their first two years of training. It also means employers who take on new apprentices during those four months can benefit from some Apprenticeship Boost support.
The extension is projected to benefit as many as 5,000 new apprentices and continues the government’s commitment to vocational education as a means of accelerating the country’s economic recovery from COVID-19.
Since launching in August 2020, more than 10,000 employers have signed up and received almost $97 million in subsidies for more than 21,000 apprentices. Apprenticeship Boost is being taken up by employers across New Zealand, with 26% of apprentices in Auckland; 34% in Canterbury, Wellington, and Waikato; and the remainder in other regions.
