Apprenticeship Service Employer Grant

Insider Tip

There is nothing to apply to right now — ESDC is renewing the Apprenticeship Service, and CAF-FCA no longer hosts an application surface for it. What is worth doing in the meantime: if you are planning apprentice hires, keep clean registration records from the provincial or territorial authority, because the grant has always been tied to a window that opens at the apprentice's registration date and many employers missed it simply by applying late. The equity-deserving bonus doubled the per-apprentice grant to $10,000 under the last rules, so building outreach to women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, members of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, racialized communities and newcomers into your hiring plan now positions you for the reopening. Watch the ESDC program page rather than CAF-FCA for the announcement.

Success Profile

A small or medium-sized Canadian employer in construction, manufacturing, or other Red Seal trade sectors that is actively hiring and has capacity to train new apprentices. Best candidates are employers who regularly bring on junior workers and can benefit from the per-head incentive structure — the more qualifying apprentices hired, the larger the cumulative grant.

Evaluation Criteria

No applications are being evaluated — the program is not accepting them. When it was running it was near-entitlement: all eligible applications from employers who hired qualifying first-year Red Seal trade apprentices and applied within the required window were processed for payment, with no competitive ranking. The equity bonus required additional verification of the apprentice's equity-deserving status.

Application Steps

Required Documents 6

Eligible Expenses 3

• Partial offset of wages paid to qualifying first-year Red Seal apprentices
• Training time costs associated with on-the-job apprenticeship training
• Administrative costs of managing the apprenticeship registration process

Ineligible Expenses 4

• Wages for apprentices not in the 39 Red Seal designated trades
• Training costs at technical colleges (covered by separate programs)
• Wages for apprentices beyond first year of program
• Capital equipment or tool purchases

Intake Periods

No intake is open. ESDC is renewing the Apprenticeship Service and has not published a reopening date. When the program was running, intake was rolling and applications had to be submitted within a prescribed window after the apprentice's provincial registration date.

Deadline Notes

The Apprenticeship Service is not currently accepting applications. Employment and Social Development Canada states it is working to renew the program, and publishes neither a closing date for the last intake nor a reopening date. When the program was running, applications were accepted on a rolling basis and had to be submitted within a defined window after the apprentice was registered with the provincial or territorial authority. A successor, the Build Canada Apprenticeship Service, was announced in May 2026 with intake timing still to be confirmed — watch the ESDC program page for the reopening.

Ineligible Organizations

• Employers in trades not designated as Red Seal trades
• Government agencies and Crown corporations
• Employers with unresolved CRA compliance issues or federal funding restrictions

Compatible Programs

Clawback Risk

Medium Risk

If the apprentice is terminated before a minimum retention period specified in CAF-FCA program guidelines, the grant may be fully or partially clawed back. Employers should review current retention requirements before applying and plan for at least a minimum apprenticeship engagement period.