From 1 July 2020 until 2023, the Government will be covering the cost of all apprenticeships for new and existing apprentices. That means there are no fees for learners or employers.
The Government's Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) is supporting learners to undertake vocational education and training at no cost.
Apprenticeships are now FREE for all new and current BCITO apprentices enrolled in a TEC-funded apprenticeship programme in all of our 15 trades, including those completing any of our Supervisor Programmes. This is for everyone. Whatever your age, even if you've got a higher level qualification or have completed other training - BCITO apprenticeships are now FREE.
Sole Traders who are enrolled in a BCITO Experience Recognition Programme (ERP) are excluded.
There's nothing you need to do. This is an automatic entitlement.
The fees covered are those that would normally be paid to BCITO for training and assessment. These include:
If you are an apprentice or employer who is paying fees, we will stop your direct debit when all fees up to 30 June 2020 are cleared. In most cases this means your direct debit will stop in July. However, if you have any outstanding fees, your current payment arrangements will continue until any outstanding balance is cleared.
If you've paid for fees past 30 June 2020, you may be entitled to a pro-rated refund. We will contact you as soon as we can with details of your refund as well as options around getting this processed. Note this can only happen once we have been reimbursed by TEC. As you can imagine, this is a huge administrative task for everyone involved and refunds may take a couple of months.
This new Government fund will be used in place of your Fees Free entitlement from 1 July 2020. If you or your apprentice are still training at the end of 2022, you will then move back onto the Fees Free programme.
If you are currently enrolled under the pre-existing "Fees Free" scheme and your programme doesn't qualify for No Fees through the TTAF, you will stay on your current Fees Free status.
Either way, if you are not paying fees now, then that will simply continue.
If this is the case, we can do our very best to help you. Please contact your BCITO Training advisor or call us on 0800 422 486 so we can determine how we can best support you.
Please get in touch with us on 0800 422 486 if you have any questions about no fees.