Australian Skills Guarantee: targets, reporting and who it covers
On Commonwealth construction projects of $10 million or more, apprentices and trainees must work at least 10% of labour hours, and women must make up a set and rising share of those hours. Suppliers report in ADMS every quarter.
What is the Australian Skills Guarantee?
The Australian Skills Guarantee is a Commonwealth procurement policy run by DEWR. On construction projects of $10 million or more, apprentices and trainees must work at least 10% of labour hours. In 2026-27, women must work at least 8% of apprentice and trainee hours and 6% of trade apprentice hours, rising yearly to 2030.
Commonwealth Entities
Non-corporate Commonwealth entities and the prescribed corporate entities listed in section 30 of the PGPA Rule must apply it. Other Commonwealth bodies are not named in that scope.
Major Construction Projects
Procurements with an estimated value of $10 million or more including GST, using one of the construction codes listed in the policy, carry the three core targets.
Flagship Construction Projects
At $100 million or more, the supplier meets the same targets, sets and meets higher targets for women, and provides a Gender Equality Action Plan.
Trade Partners
A trade partner (subcontractor) has no standalone obligations under the policy, but must report accurately and on time to the supplier in the format the supplier requires. The supplier records and reports on its behalf.
What the Australian Skills Guarantee asks for.
What you report, and when.
Supplier Quarterly Report
To the contracting agency, in ADMS
Trade Partner Data
To the supplier
Compliance Assessment
To DEWR, by the contracting agency
End Of Project Report
To DEWR, by the contracting agency
- Registered Training Contract For Each Apprentice Or Trainee
- Total Estimated Labour Hours At Award
- Monthly Labour Hours By Worker, Gender And Trade Status
- Off-Site Training And Input Hours
- Trade Partner Hours Returns
- Gender Equality Action Plan (Flagship)
- Records Of Mitigating Factors And Strategies To Rectify
Using Last Year's Women's Targets
A multi-year contract starts at the percentages for its start date, then moves up each financial year. A project that began at 7% and 5% in 2025-26 now owes 8% and 6%, even if your tender papers quote the earlier figures.
Assuming Everything Waits Until The End
The 10% target is measured at contract end, so a slow start can be recovered. The women's targets are assessed every financial year, so each year's result stands on that year's hours.
Missing Small Shortfalls
A miss of more than 0.2 percentage points moves you from the educative stream to the directive stream, where you must give reasons and strategies. Persistent failure can be weighed in value for money assessments on future tenders.
How Catchment manages the Australian Skills Guarantee.
Set Up As Your Own Framework
GovAssureThere is no ready-made Australian Skills Guarantee template in Catchment; the built-in Major Projects Skills Guarantee is Victoria's. You set this one up as your own framework in the Policies & Frameworks library, and it is versioned, which suits a policy with both a Version 1 and a Version 1.2.
Ratio Targets With The Right Denominator
SocialProA ratio target holds the value, denominator and who counts. That lets you build the 10% against all labour hours, the women's target against apprentice and trainee hours, and the trade-specific target against trade apprentice hours. A target holds one value at a time, so when the women's value changes you update it on the project and keep your own record of each year's figure.
Hours Counted From Worker Attributes
SocialProEach month's hours count towards a target when the worker's attributes match, including gender, apprentice, trainee and occupation type. Progress against the women's targets stays visible through the year, when a miss can still be fixed.
Ready Before The 10-Day Window
SocialProTrade partners submit a monthly report free of charge, with reminder and overdue emails, and accepted periods lock. By quarter end you hold checked figures to enter in ADMS yourself, as Catchment does not lodge there.
Training Contracts And The Action Plan
GovAssureAdd training contracts as a Register or package-level Document requirement, and a Gender Equality Action Plan as a one-time project document. Keep each revision of your plan in the Document Register, so you can show which plan applied when.
Catchment has no ready-made template for this one. You build it in the Policies & Frameworks library, then adopt it on each project.
Australian Skills Guarantee questions.
What is the Australian Skills Guarantee?
It is a Commonwealth procurement connected policy that started on 1 July 2024, using government purchasing to address skills shortages and gender segregation in construction and ICT. It sets national targets for apprentices, trainees, learning workers and women on procurements of $10 million or more.
What are the Skills Guarantee targets for women in 2026-27?
On Major Construction Projects from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, women must work at least 8% of apprentice and trainee hours and 6% of trade apprentice and trainee hours. Those rise by one percentage point a year, reaching 12% and 10% from 1 July 2030.
How do you report on the Skills Guarantee?
Suppliers report in the Apprenticeships Data Management System (ADMS) at the end of each quarter and must finalise within 10 working days. The contracting agency then submits compliance assessments to DEWR every six months, due 31 January and 31 July.
Do off-site hours count towards the Skills Guarantee?
They can. Off-site hours to deliver inputs to the project count, for example a cabinet maker's apprentice making cabinets for it, and so do hours of formal training that contribute to the qualification. Hours delivered by workers based overseas do not count.
What happens if a supplier misses a Skills Guarantee target?
The policy uses four streams. A miss of up to 0.2 points gets an educative approach, and a larger one requires reasons and a plan to rectify. Persistent failure can count in future value for money assessments, and false declarations can lead to exclusion under the procurement rules.
Which version of the Skills Guarantee applies to my contract?
Version 1.2 applies to approaches to market issued from 1 October 2025, and Version 1 applies to earlier ones. DEWR says Version 1.2 sets targets for ICT procurements and makes no changes to targets for existing major construction projects.
Does the Skills Guarantee apply to state government projects?
The policy binds Commonwealth entities on their own procurements. State programs such as Victoria's Major Projects Skills Guarantee are separate, with their own rules. Read your approach to market and contract, or ask your contracting agency, to see whether the Skills Guarantee applies.
Read our full reporting guide to the Australian Skills Guarantee
- Australian Skills Guarantee Procurement Connected Policy Version 1.2 (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations)
- Construction procurements (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations)
- Skills Guarantee Reporting (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations)
- Release of updated Procurement Connected Policy (PCP) (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations)
- Australian Skills Guarantee (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations)
- Procurement Connected Policies (Department of Finance)
Reviewed 4 November 2026. General information to help you plan reporting, not legal advice. Policies change, so check the current version with the policy owner before you rely on it.
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