YOUR INDUSTRY
DECEMBER DEADLINE FOR FREE TRADES TRAINING APPLICATIONS ADVERTORIAL
At Primary ITO we recognise that the most valuable thing you can invest in your people is your time – and Free Trades Training can make doing that a bit easier. If you’re a learner starting one of our programmes or an employer who pays for your staff’s training, the government may cover some of your fees through the Free Trades Training Fund, however, this is only for a limited time. Did you know there are over 200 New Zealand Apprenticeship, Certificate and Micro-credential programmes currently under the Free Trades Training Fund managed by Primary ITO? There will never be a better time to train, given the support on offer this year. If you’re still training in the programme after 31 December 2022, you will need to pay fees for that part of the training. The best thing is that you do not need to apply for this funding. If you’re enrolled in an eligible programme, the fund will automatically cover your fees costs for training that occurs between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2022. For employers who enrol apprentices, the government’s Apprenticeship Boost offers financial support through until 4 August 2022. Adam Fleck, sector advisor horticulture, says “For a long time, our industries have been crying out for skilled people. 50 NZGROWER : MAY 2022
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring in those people and train them with the most up-to-the-minute skills, with subsidised fees. At a time when we all want to see people transitioning from other industries to primary sector careers, this should be an enormous incentive.” How Free Trades Training works is that when you or your staff are enrolled in one of our programmes, the government will pay any training and assessment fees that you would previously have had to pay Primary ITO, up until December 2022. If you’re an employer, we are strongly encouraging you to take advantage of Free Trades Training and look into how you can access support through the Apprenticeship Boost. Unlike the Free Trades Training, employers do need to register to receive this support. You can do so through Work and Income New Zealand so please contact them directly. Adam is encouraging employers to take a closer look at this sooner rather than later. “From what we understand from employers who have registered for the Apprenticeship Boost, it has been a relatively easy process to gain the support, however, time is running out as the fund finishes this August.” To learn more, get in touch with the team at Primary ITO. Call us on 0800 20 80 20 or email info@primaryito.ac.nz or check out www.primaryito.ac.nz.
