Conditions and entitlements for apprentices vary from award to award.

Many awards link reimbursement of training costs to an apprentice’s progress, but they do this in different ways. Some say apprentices won’t be reimbursed if their progress is unsatisfactory. Others make reimbursement dependent on the employer being satisfied that progress is satisfactory. Some require apprentices to provide reports of satisfactory progress. 

Check the award to see what applies in each industry.

When has an employee made satisfactory progress?

When assessing whether an apprentice has made satisfactory progress, the focus should be on whether they have demonstrated an appropriate level of commitment to their apprenticeship, rather than whether they have completed specific competencies. Apprentices can show they’re committed by attending on and off-the-job training and actively participating in it. 

An apprentice who fails some of their units won’t necessarily be making unsatisfactory progress.

Example

Rob employs Sally as an electrical apprentice. Sally requests that Rob reimburse her for training costs that she’s incurred for the apprenticeship. 

Sally has attended all of her on and off-the-job training, and has completed all of her assessments. However, she has failed some of her units because her work fell short of the expected standard and has had to complete them again.

Sally has shown that she’s committed to her apprenticeship, by attending training and completing assessments. Rob considers that even though she has failed some units, she’s not making unsatisfactory progress, and so he reimburses the training costs.

Who decides if progress is unsatisfactory?

The parties to the training contract make this decision, in particular the employer and the registered training organisation (RTO).

Employers should stay in touch with the RTO during the apprenticeship, to make sure that the apprentice is making satisfactory progress.