B.C. Employer Training Grant

Program Description

The B.C. Employer Training Grant provides funding to small, medium and large enterprises to support skills training for their workforces, including prospective new hires. It reimburses employers 80% of eligible training costs, up to $10,000 per participant and $300,000 per fiscal year, with the goal of helping British Columbians access skills training while encouraging employer involvement.

Eligibility Requirements

• Employer registered and operating in British Columbia
• Not a provincial government body, Crown corporation, hospital, health authority, or public post-secondary institution
• Training employees or new hires — self-employed applicants are eligible and name themselves as both the applicant employer and the participant
• Application submitted before training begins (applying after training starts is automatic disqualification)
• Training provider is a third-party provider (internal staff training is ineligible); if it is a private provider meeting the PTIRU threshold (40+ instructional hours and $4,000+ tuition for at least one program), it must be PTIRU-certified with all of its programs listed in the PTIRU Directory
• Training does not lead to a full or partial diploma or degree, and does not exceed 52 weeks
• Application submitted by the employer directly (not by a third-party consultant or grant writer)
• Business must have been fully operational for at least one year at the time of application (a business that is registered but not currently operating, or not yet started, is ineligible)
• Participants must be at least 16 years old
• Only paid employees are eligible participants — volunteers and members of the Board of Directors do not qualify
• Refugee claimants are not eligible participants
• Contracted workers are eligible participants only if the employer will hire them as an employee as a result of the training
• A participant currently employed by another company is generally not eligible, unless they have been directly or indirectly impacted by local economic disruptions such as tariffs or mass layoffs (e.g. in forestry) and are at risk of losing their job
• Employer must be in good standing with the Province — past compliance failures (e.g. not providing a job to a participant after training, not submitting the Employer Completion Report, not participating in the Employer Outcome Surveys) can bar re-application