TAFE and block release explained

Day release vs block release: what's the difference

Most apprentices do day release: one set day a week at TAFE or your Registered Training Organisation (RTO), term after term.

Block release is different. Instead of a weekly day, you go for a concentrated stretch, sometimes a full week or two at a time, then head back to the job for a longer run before the next block. It's common in regional areas, in trades with few campuses, and where the nearest RTO isn't a short drive from your workplace.

• •Day release: same day every week, ongoing through the term
• •Block release: intensive multi day or multi week stints, spaced through the year
• •Some qualifications mix both, or add short residential blocks for specialist units
• •School-based apprentices are scheduled differently again, with training fitted around school terms, so don't copy a school-based mate's timetable

The practical breakdown

Your employer has to release you for scheduled training. That's built into your training contract, not a favour. Time in off the job training counts as time worked: normal pay, and annual leave keeps accruing, whether it's day release, block release or evening classes.

If block release means staying away overnight, many awards make your employer cover the excess reasonable travel costs: transport, accommodation and meals for the trip. It's often calculated the same way as the award's living away from home on distant work allowance. Government travel assistance you receive can reduce what the employer owes, but only if you've told them about it in writing.

TAFE progress can also affect your pay packet. Depending on your award, wage progression is time based, competency based, or both. In competency based systems you move up a wage level once you're assessed as competent in the required share of your training, and that includes your off the job units. Fall behind at block release and a pay rise can slip; get units signed off early and it can come forward.

• •Training time is paid time, and leave keeps building
• •Training hours count as time worked but generally don't count toward overtime calculations
• •Employers can push back on travel costs if a closer training option existed and they didn't approve the distant one
• •Ask your RTO how unit completions get reported, because that evidence is what triggers a competency based wage move

Travel and accommodation help, state by state

On top of anything your award or agreement provides, most states run their own subsidy scheme for apprentices who travel a long way to training. Each has a distance test and a claim deadline, and the deadlines are strict.

Don't confuse these with the Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA). LAFHA is a separate Commonwealth allowance ($77.17 a week in first year) for apprentices who move out of their parent or guardian's home to take up or stay in an apprenticeship. It is not a block release travel scheme.

• •NSW (VTAS): travel more than 110km return to training, get 52c per km plus $70 a night for block release accommodation, claim by 30 June following the year you travelled
• •Queensland: travel more than 100km return to your closest training organisation, get up to 34c per km plus $58 a night intrastate accommodation, claim within 6 months of the block
• •WA (TAA): travel more than 70km round trip, claim through the WAAMS online portal within 60 days of the last day of each block, and you're ineligible if your employer already covers the costs
• •NT: live more than 50km one way from the nearest RTO for your qualification, claim $700 for a full seven day week of accommodation plus $100 a day after that, up to 6 months after training
• •Other states have equivalents (Tasmania and SA both run travel and accommodation contributions), so search your state training authority's site before assuming you're not covered

Who pays your TAFE fees

Forget the blanket rule that "the employer pays". Who actually pays your course fees depends on your state and when you started, and getting this wrong can cost you real money.

The Fair Work rules sit on top of all of this. Many awards require employers to reimburse training fees on satisfactory progress. If you paid upfront but leave that employer within 6 months, they don't have to reimburse you. If you fail a unit, the employer still has to pay for the repeat unless you're genuinely not putting in the effort, and being absent without leave from training can cost you the right to reimbursement. If you change employers mid apprenticeship, the new one only pays what the old one hasn't already covered.

• •NSW: apprenticeships through Smart and Skilled are fee-free, the government pays the student fee (up to $2,000) for apprentices who start training before 30 June 2027, so nobody should be charging you
• •Queensland: Free Apprenticeships for Under 25s covers training costs in 130 plus priority trades until 30 June 2027, and Free Construction Apprenticeships extends this to over 25s in construction trades
• •Victoria: Free TAFE does not cover apprenticeships (only pre-apprenticeship courses), so fees are real, and the award reimbursement rules above are what protect you
• •WA: you're liable for your own fees and employers aren't obliged to pay in advance, but modern awards require them to reimburse you on satisfactory progress, so keep your receipts and results
• •Whatever state you're in: never assume, ask the RTO at enrolment exactly who is being invoiced and under what program

Award, EBA or GTO: know who actually runs your block release

Everything above says "check your award", but if an enterprise agreement (EBA) applies to your workplace, the award doesn't. The EBA's clauses then govern your block release pay, fares and travel allowances, and training cost reimbursement. Commercial and union construction agreements often pay daily fares and travel allowances and above award rates, and how those apply during TAFE weeks (and whether RDOs accrue during a block) is written in the agreement, not the award. Check your payslip for the instrument name, ask the office, or search the Fair Work Commission's agreements database.

If you're employed through a Group Training Organisation (GTO), the GTO is your legal employer, not the business you turn up to each day. The GTO enrols you, pays your wages during blocks, covers TAFE fees, and arranges or reimburses travel. Your host employer must release you for training but has no authority to tell you to skip a block. Clashes, travel claims and schedule questions go to your GTO field officer, and remember that rotating to a new host can change which campus or block schedule you're on.

Resi vs commercial vs industrial

• •Residential: small builders and domestic sparkies or plumbers usually employ you directly under the award. You'll likely organise your own travel, claim the state subsidy yourself, and rely on the award reimbursement rules for fees, so keep every receipt
• •Commercial: bigger builders and union sites usually have an EBA. Expect daily fares and travel allowances and above award pay, but read the agreement for how allowances and RDO accrual work during TAFE weeks, because they often apply differently when you're not on site
• •Industrial: mining, resources and heavy industry apprentices are often employed through a GTO, with longer blocks, flights and accommodation arranged for you. The big distances make the state subsidy schemes (WA TAA, NT, Queensland) genuinely worth claiming when the employer or GTO doesn't cover everything

Common mistakes

Missing a block isn't like skipping a lecture. Your training contract requires you to attend all formal training, RTOs report attendance problems, and in NSW for example employers must notify Training Services when there are issues. Repeated non-attendance is a training contract problem the state training authority can act on.

• •Assuming block release is unpaid because you're not physically at work. It isn't, it's paid time
• •Skipping a block without approved leave: you can lose the right to have those training costs reimbursed, and your employer will hear about it
• •Turning up without the required PPE, tools or textbooks. TAFEs publish kit lists for trade blocks and can refuse you workshop entry, which counts against your attendance
• •Missing a subsidy deadline: WA gives you 60 days from the end of the block, Queensland and NT give 6 months, NSW gives until 30 June the following year. Claim straight after each block and it's never a problem
• •Paying fees upfront in NSW or Queensland when a government program should have covered them. Query any invoice before paying
• •Not keeping receipts and results. Reimbursement claims and subsidy claims both die without paperwork

What to ask your supervisor

Before your first block, get these answered so there's no confusion later. If you're with a GTO, put the same questions to your field officer instead.

And know when to stop and ask for outside help: if your pay stops or drops during a block, your employer refuses to release you for scheduled training, or a fee reimbursement is being dodged, raise it straight away. Start with your employer or RTO, then the Fair Work Ombudsman for pay and award or agreement questions, or your state training authority for training contract problems. Keep your training plan, payslips and receipts handy, they'll ask for them.

• •Am I under an award or an enterprise agreement, and what does it say about block release travel, accommodation and fares
• •Will the business (or GTO) book and pay for accommodation directly, or do I pay and get reimbursed, and how fast
• •Who is being invoiced for my TAFE fees, and is a fee-free program covering them in our state
• •What do I need to keep as proof for travel, meals and fee claims
• •Who do I contact if block dates clash with a rostered shift or site shutdown
• •How do my completed units get reported for wage progression, and who signs that off