Industry News
New Fully Subsidised Training for NSW Optical Dispensing
On Wednesday September 16, Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW, along with Dominic Perrottet, NSW Treasurer, and Geoff Lee, NSW Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, announced an exciting new training subsidy that applies to optical assistant staff in NSW and wish to enroll with the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing (ACOD) into the Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing, HLT47815.
This subsidy is effective immediately, is available until April 2021, and if an employee qualifies the total fee for the training is covered. The main criteria include applicants must be either an Australian citizen or permanent resident, must live in and/or work in NSW, and must be aged between 17 – 24 (inclusive). For employees who do not fall into this age range, the normal subsidies apply, which for most students results in an enrolment fee of either $2320 or $1990, depending on previous levels of training attained.
ACOD has already received enrolments in response to this new initiative. Enrolment with ACOD is simple and students who register can be approved and working on their course within two days.
The newly revised ACOD Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing Course, HLT47815, now includes 3 workshops of 3 days each (9 days in total), and these are held regularly at either the rooms of Optometry Australia, NSW, at Fivedock, Sydney or in the rooms of The School of Optometry, University of Canberra, Bruce, Canberra. In addition, students receive access to the ACOD learning site, online recorded lectures, live interactive webinars, two text books, and extensive teacher support.
UPDATE 07 Oct 2020:
The Federal Government has also announced a new training and jobs initiative as a central part of the 2020 Budget. Any employer who engages a new employee and registers them for the Certificate IV Optical Dispensing HLT47815 will receive a huge 50% wage subsidy. This is effective immediately, it will have a huge impact on our industry, but there is a cap. ACOD can provide you with clear, simple information to enable you to access this quickly and easily.
UPDATE 09 Oct 2020:
ACOD has contacted eyesmart.com.au with another update. According to ACOD, the following are the new facts:
Any employee in an optical retail outlet, regardless of age or length of employment, can be eligible for an optical dispensing traineeship. The main criteria are:
- Must be employed part time (min 21 hours per week)or full time (min 38 hours per week) - causal employees are not included. But casuals can be made part or full time and will then become eligible.
- Must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- Must be enrolled with an accredited Training College (such as ACOD)
If an employee meets these criteria, ACOD understands they are eligible for a traineeship and eligible for the 50% wages subsidy. The subsidy is only available for one year, from Oct 5, 2020, to Sept 30, 2021, to a maximum of $28 000. And employers may enroll multiple staff at once, and attract the wages subsidy for each enrolled staff member.
Then, depending on whether the employee is part or full time and length of employment, there may be additional financial benefits, such as:
- If part time and employed for less than one year - $1500 training support when the employee is course complete
- If full time and employed for less than 3 months - $1500 on course commencement and $2500 on course completion ($4000 in total training support)
- Other traineeship benefits, such as financial assistance for transport and accommodation associated with attendance at the workshops, can be detailed by a representative for an apprenticeship centre (or ACOD can refer one)
For more information please refer to https://docs.employment.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/bac-questions-answers.pdf
The ACOD course fee depends on the state in which the employee works, and is as follows: NSW $0; ACT $1000; TAS $1000; WA $1000; SA $2500; VIC $4500; QLD $4500
UPDATE 28 Oct 2020:
ACOD reports that the Federal Government announced an amendment to the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC). This amendment has taken effect from October 28. It does not affect any enrolment prior to this date which has already been deemed eligible. The amendment concerns the inclusion of “existing workers” for this program. An “existing worker” is classified as a full time employee of more than 3 months and a part time employee of more than 12 months. As of October 28, these employees are not eligible, unless:
They were a casual and they are moved to part or full time status after October 28.
OR
They were part time and are moved to full time status after October 28.
If this is the case, then the employer may enroll any number of existing workers and gain the 50% wages subsidy, up to a maximum of 30 employees. Any new or current full time employee of less than 3 months is still eligible, and any new or current part time employee of less than 12 months is still eligible. Eligibility for the program is assessed by the government approved apprenticeship and traineeship centres.
