Apprentice Mechanic Wages 2026-27, First Year to Fourth

Clause 16.9 sets the junior scale at 50%, 60%, 75%, 88% of the Level R6 rate of $1,119.10 a week, and 55%, 65%, 75%, 88% for an apprentice who has completed Year 12. Clause 16.10 names the adult rate for each year instead. The award writes each step as a stage as well as a year, because an apprentice can move up on competency rather than time.

Where the employer requires an apprentice to provide their own tools, clause 19.6(b) adds a weekly tool allowance that rises with each stage. It is not part of the rates above, and unlike the electrical award’s allowances it is not paid for all purposes: clause 19.6(c) says it carries no overtime, shift premium, penalty or annual leave loading, so it is not in the weekend rates above. Where the employer supplies the tools, nothing is payable. The apprentice amounts were last varied by PR774147 from 1 July 2024, so unlike the wage rates they did not rise on 1 July 2026.

The employer still has to reimburse the cost of power tools, special purpose tools and precision measuring instruments the job requires, and an apprentice who loses tools the employer supplied through their own negligence replaces them.

The plumbing award works the other way: its $22.96 tool allowance is built into every apprentice rate at the year's percentage, whether or not the apprentice supplies tools, as Apprentice Plumber Wages sets out.

A full-time first year apprentice earns $29,097 over a year and keeps about $27,354. The figures are for an Australian resident for tax purposes, working the full year with no study loan and no Medicare levy surcharge, and they leave out the tool allowance. Superannuation is paid by the employer on top, at the rate the Super Guarantee Calculator uses.

Clause 16.8 gives an apprentice two ways up the scale: completing each year of service, or completing the competencies in the training plan agreed between the employer, the apprentice and the training provider, in line with the state or territory training authority. That is why the award labels each step a stage as well as a year, and why a mechanic apprentice who finishes the competencies early can be on the next rate before twelve months are up.

Time spent at training and assessment under the training contract counts as time worked and is paid at the apprentice’s rate. Course fees and prescribed textbooks are reimbursed within six months of the stage starting, or three months of training starting, whichever is later, and block release training that needs an overnight stay comes with the excess travel and accommodation costs. An apprentice cannot be put on payment by results, and cannot be required to work overtime or shiftwork at times that would stop them attending training.

A school-based apprentice is paid the same hourly rates for all hours worked, including off-the-job training, which for a full-time student counts as 25% of the hours worked on the job, and moves 12 months up the scale for every two years of employment unless competency-based progression applies.

A junior apprentice is one under 21 years of age. The Year 12 column lifts the first stage from 50% to 55% and the second from 60% to 65% of the Level R6 rate, worth $55.96 a week in each of those two years. Unlike most awards this one attaches no start date to the Year 12 scale, so it applies whenever the apprenticeship began, and there is no separate pre-2014 table to check.

An adult apprentice is one over 21 years of age when the apprenticeship starts. The first stage is 80% of the Level R6 rate and the three later stages are named classifications: Level R1 rate, Level R2 rate, Level R3 rate. The third stage, $1,004.90 a week, is the same figure as the National Minimum Wage. An adult apprentice who is still in the apprenticeship after the fourth stage is paid the full Level R6 rate.

Clause 16.10(c) protects anyone already employed in the vehicle industry by the same employer immediately before becoming an adult apprentice: their rate of pay cannot be cut because they signed a training contract. This award attaches no minimum period of prior service to that protection, where the electrical contracting award asks for six months full-time, or twelve months part-time or as a regular casual.

When the apprenticeship finishes, the trade classification is Level R6, tradesperson or equivalent Level I, $1,119.10 a week or $29.45 an hour, with the tradesperson’s tool allowance of $13.86 on top where the mechanic supplies their own tools. What a qualified mechanic is paid from then on, with casual, weekend and overtime rates, is on Mechanic Hourly Rate.