The Victorian Building Authority (VBA), through a fee relief scheme, has supported Victorian building and plumbing practitioners experiencing COVID-19-related financial hardship by waiving more than half a million dollars in work-related fees.

VBA chief executive officer Sue Eddy says supporting those practitioners who were doing it tough through a period of uncertainty was the right thing to do: “Our economic recovery is being driven by the construction industry. We introduced the fee relief scheme to support those boots on the ground that will literally build our way out of these challenging times.”

More than 2,200 practitioners have saved a total of $533,000 in fees since the scheme began in October last year.

For building practitioners, 1,633 applications for waivers of registration, application and renewal fees saw more than $373,000 in fees waived.

For plumbers, 573 applications for waiver of the above fees and accreditation and assessment fees saw a total of $160,000 in fees waived.

The fees building practitioners and plumbers can save under the scheme depends on their type of registration or license, with eligible plumbers saving up to $357 and eligible building practitioners saving up to $985.

While JobKeeper concluded on 28 March 2021, building practitioners and plumbers on JobSeeker can still apply before the VBA fee relief scheme concludes on 30 June 2021.