Apprenticeship Community Restores Faith In Apprenticeship Program

Cowan Contracting has been supplying hard working shearers to the farmers of south-west Western Australia for a number of years. Business Manager, Benji Cowan, has always been keen to encourage young people into the shearing industry, and, up until recently, he had been employing apprentices in his business.

Unfortunately for Benji and the team at Cowan Contracting, in 2015, the Federal Government restructured the Australian Apprenticeships program, and the organisation that had been providing apprenticeship services was no longer able to support Cowan Contracting.

This change in circumstances, and a few concerns over the service the business had been receiving, left Benji apprehensive about continuing to hire apprentice shearers.

Enter Daniel Baker, an Industry Training Consultant with The Apprenticeship Community. Daniel was on the lookout for businesses in southern Western Australia that might be looking for new employees and could benefit from the specialised services provided by The Apprenticeship Community.

Benji agreed to meet with Daniel, but was sceptical about re-engaging with the Australian Apprenticeships program.

One of the first things Daniel identified when preparing for his meeting with Benji was that there were some incentives owing to Cowan Consulting from previous employees. WA businesses are entitled to a range of financial incentives when employing apprentices. Daniel found that Cowan Consulting was eligible to claim up to $2,500 each for two apprentices who had successfully completed their training. But the expiry date for these claims was just a few weeks away!

When Daniel raised this, Benji said he had assumed he couldn’t claim the payments because the employees they were linked to had long-since left the business. Daniel explained that a claim could still be lodged with supporting evidence in lieu of the employees’ signatures. Benji was obviously delighted that Daniel had identified this opportunity and gave him the go-ahead to pursue the claim forms.

The forms were lodged and Cowan Contracting received $5,000 in completion payments.

Benji was impressed at the service he’d received from Daniel, and it renewed his faith in the apprenticeship program. Cowan Contracting has now committed to using The Apprenticeship Community for all future shearing industry commencements.

If you’re interested in finding out how The Apprenticeship Community can help you access financial incentives for your business, call now or visit www.apprenticeshipcommunity.com.au