PLEASE NOTE: Frequently asked questions regarding the cessation of the Tools For Your Trade voucher initiative and the introduction of the new Tools For Your Trade payment initiative can be found here.
1. Why was my apprentice’s application for Tools For Your Trade rejected?
The main reasons include:
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Your apprentice’s qualification/trade not being classified as a “skills shortage trade” by the Australian Government.
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Responses to questions (particularly with regard to citizenship) on the Eligibility Verification Form being inconsistent with the information on our database.
In all cases, any conflicting information provided by you/your apprentice needs to be clarified before we reconsider your apprentice’s eligibility.
2. My apprentice has left his/her apprenticeship, who owns the tools?
Tool kit ownership depends on how long your apprentice has formally been employed by you during their apprenticeship.
Once your apprentice has been with your business for nine months, the tools belong to him/her. However, if he/she leaves the business before nine months on the job, the tools are yours. Tools can be handed over earlier at your own discretion.
Once the nine-month point as been reached, the TFYT team will send you an Ownership Verification Form (OVF) to confirm that the transfer of the tool kit to your apprentice has taken place. We’ll need signatures from both you and your apprentice.
3. What is the Tools For Your Trade postal address?
The postal address is:
PO Box 828
South Melbourne
VIC 3205
This address is also listed at the top of each form we send to you.
4. While waiting for the voucher to be delivered, can I buy the tools and keep the voucher?
No. Voucher cards are produced for the apprentice named on the card, specifically for his/her benefit.
The voucher card number is used to pay the tool supplier once it has been recorded in our database against your apprentice’s name.
Since the option of reimbursing employers tool kit purchases is not available under this program, you may be out of pocket if you choose to purchase tools without the voucher card.
5. Does the expiry date of the voucher start from when the employer receives the voucher, when the voucher is issued by a consultant or from when the employer calls through to activate it?
The expiry date of the voucher card is exactly three months from the day it is first issued by a TFYT consultant.
6. How do we make a purchase?
You need to take the Purchase Pack (voucher card and completed Purchase Verification Form) to your tool supplier and select the tools the apprentice needs.
When you’re ready, take your tools, voucher card and form to the counter. The supplier will make the sale and take care of the rest.
TFYT suggests that you ask for a copy of the invoice and form for your own records.
7. Can I purchase the tools by myself or does the apprentice have to be there?
The decision to have your apprentice around when you buy the tools is entirely up to you.
It may benefit your apprentice to learn about the variety of tools available to them but, again, it is your decision.
8. Can we fax the completed forms back to you?
No. TFYT requires original signatures on the forms. If forms are received with photocopied or faxed signatures, they will be returned to you again for completion.
9. We have lost a form, can I download it from your website?
No. As with our voucher cards, Tools For Your Trade forms are specifically produced for the apprentice named on the form, therefore we cannot make any blank forms available online.
We will send out replacement forms immediately at your request – just email or call us.
10. Can I buy the tools from a supplier before the voucher arrives?
No. The tool supplier needs the voucher card and the Purchase Verification Form to be able to complete the sale and hand over the tools.
Any money that you pay to the supplier out of your own pocket will not be reimbursed by Tools For Your Trade.
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