Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive

Group training organisations (GTOs) registered with the Department of Training and Workforce Development may be eligible to claim under the Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive. 

GTOs may be eligible to receive employer incentives regardless of their payroll tax status for apprentices and trainees who are hosted out, and the incentive must be passed onto host employers on a pro-rata basis.  GTOs directly indenturing an apprentice and liable for payroll tax will be out of scope of the employer incentive.

Employers, including GTOs, receiving a Construction Training Fund (CTF) incentive for an apprentice or trainee will also be out of scope of the employer incentive .  Employers may be eligible for a partial payment if their eligibility to receive CTF incentives changes during the period of the training contract.

An existing worker is a person employed with the same employer continuously for more than three months full time or 12 months casual or part time, or a combination of both, immediately prior to the commencement date of the training contract. In calculating the full time equivalent period of employment, the following exclusions apply where the apprentice/trainee was:

• employed while attending secondary school as a student; or
• has had a break in service with the employer of six months or more in the employment relationship prior to commencement of the apprenticeship/traineeship.

Please note, any worker not considered an existing worker is deemed to be a new entrant.

New entrant trainees who progress to a subsequent traineeship with the same employer within three months after the successful completion of the previous traineeship can maintain their new entrant status if they articulate to a higher level qualification.

Yes, employers of existing worker apprentices may be eligible for the incentive. The new entrant requirement is only applicable for trainees in relation to employer incentives.

Government trading enterprises such as Western Power and the Water Corporation may be eligible to receive the incentive for their apprentices and new entrant trainees.

Government Trading Enterprises are different from other State Government agencies as they are primarily self-financing and operate on a commercial basis, in critical industry areas employing trade workers.

No, the $100,000 salary cap applied to new entrant trainees under the previous payroll tax scheme.

Under the Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive, an employer of all new entrant trainees may be eligible regardless of their salary.  

The payroll tax exemption for new entrant trainees was removed from 1 July 2019. Employers of new entrant trainees may be eligible for the employer incentive (subject to meeting other eligibility criteria), regardless of the employer’s payroll tax status.

Payroll tax exemption for apprentices will continue beyond 30 June 2019, however as has always been the case, only employers with an annual payroll above $1 million may able to benefit from this exemption. The incentive seeks to provide comparable financial assistance to smaller employers. Therefore, only employers not liable for payroll tax (an annual payroll below $1 million) may be eligible for the incentive in respect of their apprentices.

CTF supports employers to reduce the cost of employing an apprentice or trainee in a range of construction occupations in WA. Employers eligible for a CTF incentive for an apprentice or trainee are not eligible to claim a Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive for that apprentice or trainee.

Your organisation can declare if it intends to engage with CTF for your apprentices and trainees. This declaration will be used to assess whether your organisation is in scope for the Jobs and Skills WA Employer Incentive.

Please refer to the CTF declaration fact sheet [PDF 343KB] for further information.