The Tools For Your Trade initiative will help to alleviate the financial burden on eligible Australian Apprentices in the first year of their Australian Apprenticeship by providing tool kits worth up to $800 including GST.
Australian Apprentices who started in an Australian Apprenticeship in 1 July 2005 in a trade experiencing skills needs received a tool kit after completing the first three months of their apprenticeship.
The tool kit will be provided to the Australian Apprentice’s employer. The employer will make the kit available to the Australian Apprentice to use and the Australian Apprentice will be entitled to keep the kit after they have completed a further six months. If the apprentice leaves before this time, the employer can keep the tools for the use of other apprentices or pre-vocational and work experience students.
Around 34,000 Australian Apprentices will receive a tool kit each year.
The Tools For Your Trade initiative started on 1 July 2005 for eligible Australian Apprentices. Apprentices who had started their Australian Apprenticeship on 1 July would have been provided with their tool kit on 1 October 2005 and would have been entitled to have kept it from 1 April 2006.
It is envisaged that the employer and the Australian Apprentice will choose a tool kit which is most appropriate to the Australian Apprentice and the trade.