Business Process

The general process is as follows:
1. Employer signs an Authority to Act & nominates relevant staff
2. Employer pays relevant costs to Fusion
3. Fusion liaise with local Government Apprenticeship Centre to complete the paperwork
4. Employees are provided with logins to commence the online recognition process
5. Fusion checks all details and signs off employees as Certified
6. Employer can claim all rebates at about 90-120 days
7. Employer can have a presentation ceremony of Certificates to staff

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Process

Background

Over the past 10-15 years, employees have been able to tap into Federal Government incentives for training staff. Most of these arrangements come under the general heading of Traineeships & Apprenticeships.
Recently, during the re-focus on skills by the Rudd Government, the policy has shifted to allow experienced workers (i.e. – more than 2 years experience) the ability to apply for “Recognition of Prior Learning” for up to 100% of a Certificate course.
The logic is that many workers have had considerable on and off the job training, and should be recognised for these skills.
Only Registered Training Organisations (RTO’s) accredited by the Government can assess the skills.
The value is that an employer can now offer an employee the opportunity to apply for Skills Recognition and the company can still access considerable government incentives for doing so.

The opportunity

Auto dealers can offer any of their employees “recognition” for the existing skills and previous training. This is particularly relevant for those companies who have a strong commitment to training employees, but may not do so in an accredited manner.

• - Target employees are
• - Vehicle sales (new & used)
• - Parts
• - F&I
• - Admin

Federal government incentives could be up to $4000 to sign up as a “trainee” and have their skills recognised without having to attend any training. So the relevant courses are

Sales – Certificate III in Automotive (Vehicle Sales)
Parts – Certificate III in Automotive (Parts Interpreting)
F&I – Certificate IV in Financial Services
Admin – Certificate III in Business (Sales)

The financial opportunity for Skills Recognition

The financial opportunity for Skills Recognition is similar to that of Traineeships. Basically, in workplace learning environments there are three models for subsidized training:

All categories of worker can benefit under the Australian Apprenticeship Programme, whereby the Federal Government provides training rebates to those employees completing accredited training.

In terms of Skills Recognition – which looks at existing and experienced workers - the rebates and costs are as follows: