Group Apprenticeship Programs

In Australia there are 170 companies that operate Group Apprenticeship Programs; collectively they are called Group Training Organisations (GTOs). Each year they employ over 40,000 apprentices.

The apprentices employed by GTOs are hired out as a flexible workforce to other employers known as ‘host companies” for the work based element of their apprenticeship. Host companies pay the GTO a service fee for the hire of the apprentice, which comprises their salary and statutory costs plus a fee which covers the management costs of employing and supporting the apprentice.

The Group Apprenticeship Program provider takes on the administration and payroll for the apprentice and implements a “supervision plan” as part of being their legal employer. The key benefit for host companies is that they can “hand back” the apprentice with two weeks notice. This results in a far more flexible demand –led approach to the employment of apprentices particularly for small to medium enterprises who do not currently engage in the apprenticeship market.

However, the Group Apprenticeship Program also creates risk for the GTO that require bespoke business systems to overcome. Apprenticeship Consulting has worked with CWGA in Australia and the London Apprentcieship Company in the UK to design a range of bespoke tools to mitigate these risks and undertands how to set them up and implement them:


Setting Up
Systems and Tools