2018 User Choice funding application information

Applications close COB Friday 15 September 2017.

Achievement of quality training and assessment outcomes depends on the engagement of training providers who have continuous relevant experience, capacity, capability and high levels of performance.

The User Choice Application Form 2018 must be completed, and emailed to

(Note: the email should be sent from a person with authorisation to commit the organisation to a fundingagreement with the NT Government).

It is important that before you submit your application you read and consider the following:

  • NT Apprenticeships and Traineeships Policy
  • NT School Based Apprenticeshipsand Traineeships Policy
  • NT User Choice FundingPolicy

All applicants will be notified by the end of November of the applications success status.

All successful applicants will be required to enter into a contractual funding arrangement (Training Contract) with the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation.

Contractual arrangements

If an RTO is approved for funding, the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation may enter into a Training Contract with the RTO for the delivery of approved training and assessment services for apprenticeships and traineeships.

This will include:

  • submission of validated AVETMISS files with up to date training activity data, four times per year:
  • data as at 31 March 2018 - due by6 April 2018
  • data as at 30 June 2018 - due by6 July 2018
  • data as at 30 September 2018 - due by5 October 2018
  • data as at 31 December 2018 - due by 11 January 2019

Duration of contract

The Department of Business provides funding on a calendar year basis. Therefore the contract duration will be for 12 months from 1 January 2018 to 31December 2018.

Funding priorities

The Northern Territory Government is committed to funding apprenticeship and traineeship training to meet the future skills demands of industry, however it reserves the right to identify priority areas for funding within a finite budget allocation.

Apprenticeships and traineeships at Certificate II to Certificate IV and Diploma may be eligible for funding based on Northern Territory Government funding priorities. A qualification must be listed on the NT Apprenticeships and Traineeships database to be eligible to be considered for funding.

Tips on completing the application form:

The Application Form 2018 is an excel spreadsheet which has been split into three sections.

You will need to click on the tabs on the bottom of the spreadsheet to access the three different sheets:

All fields are mandatory

To assist the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation with streamlining the process and to assist RTOs in making their calculations the spreadsheet ‘4. Qualification Request’ has a number of ‘locked’ cells (highlighted in yellow) which contain formulas. These formulas are only used to calculate AHC for Commencements and are based on a 12 month period of training.

For all Continuing apprentices / trainees the RTO will need to estimate the AHC required for the apprentice / trainee to complete the qualification. This will then be added automatically into the ‘TOTAL’ column.

Calculating Annual Hours Curriculum (AHC) for qualifications over 12 months

Many apprenticeships and traineeships have a duration greater than 12 months, therefore the funding model is based on a reasonable amount of training that could be undertaken by the apprentice or trainee within a 12 month period.

The Nominal Hours and Nominal Duration per qualification must be entered into the spreadsheet on the Application Form 2018. These can be found in theNT Apprenticeship and Traineeship Database.

Please refer to the following examples of how the formula works:

Example 1:

  • Fulltime Apprentices/Trainees

SIT30112 – Cert III in Tourism: Nominal hours = 592; Nominal duration = 18 mths.

Therefore 592 divided by 18 months, multiplied by 12 = 395 hours, which will be the amount of AHC that the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation will fund up to, for each apprentice/trainee for a 12 month period.

There is one exception to this rule and that is with the traditional trades that have a

48 month nominal duration. These will be divided by 36 months to take into account the expected year of on-the-job experience. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate this.

Example 2:

  • Part Time and School Based Apprenticeships/Traineeships (SBAT)

When calculating AHC for Part-Time and SBAT, the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation will consider the hours per qualification being delivered over double the nominal duration.

Cert II in Automotive Vehicle Servicing: Nominal hours = 400

Nominal duration = 12 months.

Therefore the calculation will be 400 divided by 24 months multiplied by 12 months = 200 AHC per year, resulting in the delivery of training spanning two years.

Note 1: Regional and remote locations

Under the NT User Choice Funding, approved RTOs are funded for the provision of accredited formal training and assessment services to apprentices and trainees based on the Northern Territory Annual Hours Curriculum (AHC) rates.

RTOs will also receive an additional loading for training and assessment services provided to students in remote areas.

An additional $1.70 per AHC for Remote 1 areas and an additional $6.83 for Remote 2 areas is paid.

The areas are defined as follows:

Urban = Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine (including NT Rural College sites), Batchelor or Alice Springs.

Remote 1 = Delivery in Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru.

Remote 2 = Delivery within the NT where delivery occurs more than 50 kms away from Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Batchelor, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru.

Department of Trade, Business and InnovationPage 1 of 4

22August2017