Apprentice Wages and Progression Under MA000020

What it is

Apprentice pay under MA000020 is a percentage of one reference rate, stepped through stages. Miss a step and you underpay quietly, for months. Apprentice underpayment is the most common wage error in residential building, and it is almost always a progression failure.

What the percentage is a percentage of

Clause 19.7(b) sets apprentice minimums as a percentage of the standard rate. The standard rate is not CW1. Clause 2 defines it as the weekly or hourly minimum rate for a Level 3 (CW/ECW 3) employee in clause 19.1. CW3 is the tradesperson level, and every apprentice percentage keys off it.

For a four year apprenticeship that commenced on or after 1 January 2014, outside the Electrotechnology Training Package:

Stage	Not completed year 12	Completed year 12
Stage 1	50 per cent	55 per cent
Stage 2	60 per cent	65 per cent
Stage 3	75 per cent	75 per cent
Stage 4	90 per cent	90 per cent

Three year apprenticeships run 55, then 75, then 90 per cent. Clause 19.7(a) closes it out: a person who has completed a full apprenticeship must not be paid less than the standard rate.

Progression: whichever comes first

Each stage has two triggers and the apprentice moves on the earlier of them.

• Stage 2 starts on attainment of 25 per cent of the total competencies in the training plan for the Certificate III, or 12 months after commencing the apprenticeship, whichever is the earlier.
• Stages 3 and 4 start on 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the competencies, or 12 months after the previous stage, whichever is the earlier.

Read "whichever is the earlier" twice. Competency based progression is not a nicety you choose to grant. If your apprentice reaches 25 per cent of their competencies in month eight, they move to Stage 2 in month eight, whether or not anyone told payroll. The 12 month trigger is a backstop, not the rule.

The same logic ends the apprenticeship. Clause 19.7(d) says that despite the nominal term, it completes early once the qualification is done and the apprentice has the practical experience to achieve competency, agreed between the RTO, the employer and the apprentice.

What it looks like in dollars

FY2026-27, four year carpentry apprentice on residential work, from the MA000020 pay guide. These include industry and tool allowances:

Stage	Weekly rate
Stage 1, did not complete year 12	$654.49
Stage 1, completed year 12	$710.45
Stage 2, did not complete year 12	$766.40
Stage 2, completed year 12	$822.36
Stage 3	$934.27
Stage 4	$1,102.13

The step from Stage 1 to Stage 2 is about $112 a week. Miss it by four months and you owe close to $2,000 for one apprentice, before super and before any penalty.

Adult and school-based apprentices

An adult apprentice is 21 or over when the contract of training is signed. Clause 19.8(d) sets the rate at the greater of the lowest classification rate in clause 19.1 or the apprentice rate for the relevant year. That floor bites: for FY2026-27 the residential adult apprentice carpentry rate is $1,108.44 a week across all years and stages, above even the Stage 4 rate.

Clause 19.8(a) adds a second protection. Someone already employed by you before becoming your adult apprentice does not take a cut in ordinary hourly rate, provided clause 19.8(b) is met: at least 6 months as a full-time weekly or daily hire employee, or 12 months as a part-time or regular casual, immediately before starting.

School-based apprentices sit under clause 19.9 and Schedule C. Read it rather than pro-rating.

Allowances, penalties and super

Clause 19.7(c) pays apprentices the tool allowance, industry allowance and where applicable the underground allowance on top of the percentage rate, as part of the ordinary weekly rate for all purposes, so those amounts enter the rate used to calculate penalties, loadings and annual leave pay. Clause 14.3(a) applies the award overtime and shiftwork penalties on the applicable ordinary hourly rate. Superannuation guarantee is 12 per cent of ordinary time earnings, and since 1 July 2026 Payday Super requires it to reach the fund within 7 business days of the pay.

The error that actually happens

Nobody sets out to underpay an apprentice. The failure is administrative: payroll sets a rate once and nothing ever tells it that the RTO signed off 25 per cent of the competencies back in March.

Three controls fix it:

• Ask the RTO for competency progress every quarter, in writing, and file it.
• Diary each 12 month backstop on the day the apprentice starts.
• Re-check every apprentice rate in the first pay period after 1 July. Award rates rose 4.75 per cent from 1 July 2026, so every number above moved.

Back pay runs six years, and super rides on top at the rate applying when you pay it rather than when it was earned.