$1,000 per employee: what training the Retraining Grant pays for

REF. 01How it works

Work-Sharing first, the grant second

The grant is the training part of the Workforce Retention and Retraining Program (WRRP, "PMERMO" in French). It provides up to $1,000 per eligible participant, to pay for training and the related administration.

The order matters: you first need an active Work-Sharing agreement (see our guide to Work-Sharing), and the Work-Sharing application must be sent before the grant application. The employees who get the income top-up are those receiving EI Work-Sharing benefits. Self-employed people, municipalities, government corporations and publicly owned Crown corporations are not eligible.

You apply online, through Grants and Contributions Online Services (GCOS), from October 16, 2026 to December 31, 2027 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. You upload the official Grant Calculator, an Excel file, with the application. Service Canada aims to decide within 45 days of receiving a complete application; it can take longer if your Work-Sharing agreement is not yet in place. Decisions are final: there is no appeal.

REF. 02Training

What training qualifies

You choose the training, as long as it fits these categories:

• skills specific to your business's work;
• skills that help it adapt, transform or diversify;
• foundational skills: digital and AI literacy, workplace safety, language, problem-solving, math;
• less formal learning: on-the-job training, or one co-worker teaching another;
• training that helps your sector grow or reach new markets.

Training can be online or in person, part-time, led by a trainer or peer-to-peer. It can be delivered by your own staff or by an outside trainer, at the workplace, outside paid hours. You commit to offering it on the days your participating employees do not work. For example, on the shop floor: an experienced operator showing a younger one how to set up a machine, or a team learning to program new equipment.

REF. 03Eligible costs

Eligible costs, and the 15% cap on administration

• The income top-up paid to eligible employees, plus your share of EI premiums and Canada Pension Plan (or Quebec Pension Plan) contributions on that top-up. The top-up is employment income: you make the usual payroll deductions.
• Designing and delivering the training: materials and supplies, fees of an outside trainer, wages and payroll costs of the employees who design or deliver the training.
• Administration directly tied to the project: bookkeeping, accounting, scheduling, telephone, internet. It is capped at 15% of the training funding requested.

REF. 04Exclusions

What is not covered

• training the law already requires you to provide (workplace safety is a foundational skill, but training already required by law does not qualify);
• conferences;
• the cost of preparing and sending the application, including a grant writer or a lobbyist. Our fees for preparing your application fall under this exclusion: they remain your expense;
• any cost incurred before the agreement is signed by both you and Employment and Social Development Canada;
• day-to-day operating costs: utilities, management consulting, travel and accommodation, wages not tied to the project;
• buying equipment, building repairs and renovations;
• alcohol, tobacco and cannabis.

REF. 0540% rule

The 40% rule

You commit in writing to offer training to all eligible employees in the unit for at least 40% of the weeks of the grant agreement. The official example: at least 30 weeks of training on a 76-week agreement. If you extend, you make the same commitment again for the extension.

REF. 06End date

Everything must be done by March 25, 2028

The training project starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday. It cannot last more than 152 weeks, nor longer than your Work-Sharing agreement. And it ends on Saturday, March 25, 2028 at the latest, no matter when you started.

You can apply for a project that has already started, but at your own risk: costs incurred before the grant agreement is signed may not be reimbursed.

last day: Saturday, March 25, 2028

REF. 07Income top-up

The income top-up: from 55% to about 70%

Under Work-Sharing, EI replaces part of the lost wages. The grant lets you pay a weekly top-up to employees who take training while receiving Work-Sharing benefits: their income goes from 55% to about 70% of their normal wages.

All the top-up money goes to the employees. It is not paid for weeks outside Work-Sharing, such as a plant shutdown, vacation or sick leave.

REF. 08Watch out

Two rules that trip people up

• 5 business days. If Service Canada writes to you about missing information, you have 5 business days to reply. Otherwise, the application can be assessed as is, or rejected.
• Provincial approval in Alberta and Quebec. An organization operating in Alberta or Quebec may need its provincial government's approval before accepting the federal money: in Alberta under the Provincial Priorities Act (Bill 18), in Quebec under the Act respecting the Ministère du Conseil exécutif.