Apprenticeship contract in Colombia after the labor reform: what changes for the employer

A Colombian apprentice is not an intern and not an ordinary employee: the role is an employment contract with its own rules on term, pay and social security. Since Law 2466 of 2025, those rules have changed, and so has the cost of meeting the SENA quota or paying not to meet it.

At Soulbit Academy we explain Colombian payroll from the finance side of a company. This article is the satellite on the apprenticeship contract: what the law now says, whether the quota reaches a subsidiary with 10 to 100 employees, and what each option costs. The full picture of the reform is in Colombia's Law 2466: employer checklist.

Apprenticeship contract in Colombia: what Law 2466 of 2025 changed

The apprenticeship contract is now a special, fixed-term employment contract of up to three years, paid through a monthly support amount rather than a salary. Article 21 of Law 2466 of 2025 rewrote article 81 of the Labor Code. The law has been in force since its enactment on June 25, 2025.

The biggest change is the minimum support. Table 1 compares it with the earlier rule in article 30 of Law 789 of 2002, as a percentage of the minimum monthly wage (SMMLV).

Track	Before (Law 789 of 2002, art. 30)	Now (Law 2466 of 2025, art. 21)
Traditional training, classroom phase	50% of the SMMLV	75% of the SMMLV
Traditional training, practical phase	75% of the SMMLV (100% if national unemployment was below 10%)	100% of the SMMLV
Dual training	No category of its own	75% in year one, 100% in year two
University student	At least 1 SMMLV	At least 1 SMMLV, dual or not
Support set by collective agreement	Not addressed in article 30	Prohibited: it cannot be regulated by collective agreements, contracts or arbitration awards

These points come from the text of the law. As of October 2026 we found no circular from the Ministry of Labor or SENA that regulates how apprentice benefits are calculated, so that point is treated below as unconfirmed.

The SENA apprentice quota: does a company with 10 to 100 employees have to comply

The apprentice quota binds private companies with 15 or more workers, and the SENA regional office of the principal domicile sets how many apprentices each one must take. The rule sits in article 33 of Law 789 of 2002, and SENA concept 9470 of 2025 restates it: private companies with no fewer than fifteen workers must hire apprentices.

The formula is one apprentice per 20 workers, plus one for each fraction of 10 or more that falls short of 20, with a minimum of one for companies of 15 to 20 workers. Applied to a mid-sized company, it gives these results under the assumptions of this article:

• With 14 workers or fewer, the quota does not apply. The company may hire apprentices voluntarily.
• With 15 to 29 workers, the quota is 1 apprentice.
• With 30 to 49 workers, the quota is 2 apprentices.
• With 50 to 69 workers, the quota is 3 apprentices.
• With 100 workers, the quota is 5 apprentices.

SENA notifies the quota to the legal representative, who has five business days to object if it does not fit the company's skilled-labor needs. According to SENA, the company may raise the quota up to double, as long as it keeps the employees who served as the base. Treat the list as a guide: the number that counts is the one SENA communicates, because SENA decides which workers go into the base.

Does a foreign-owned subsidiary count as a private company for the quota?

A Colombian subsidiary is a private company under Colombian law, so the quota applies to its Colombian workforce regardless of who owns it. The headcount that matters is the one employed in Colombia, not the group's. In many countries an apprentice is a training placement; in Colombia it is an employment contract with social security, and the finance team should budget it as such.

What an apprentice costs in 2026: support amount against the minimum wage

An apprentice in the practical phase costs at least COP 1,750,905 per month in 2026, the same value as the minimum wage. That figure is the SMMLV set by Decree 1469 of 2025. According to press reports, the Council of State provisionally suspended the decree in February 2026 without changing the applicable value; confirm it with the Ministry of Labor.

Table 2 turns the percentages in the law into pesos and compares them with paying SENA instead.

Item	Calculation	Monthly (COP)	12 months (COP)
Apprentice in classroom phase or dual year 1	75% of 1,750,905	1,313,179	15,758,145
Apprentice in practical phase or dual year 2	100% of 1,750,905	1,750,905	21,010,860
Pay SENA for an apprentice not hired	1.5 × 1,750,905	2,626,358	31,516,290
Difference: paying SENA against practical phase	2,626,358 − 1,750,905	875,453	10,505,430
Assumption: 52 workers, quota of 3, hires 2 in practical phase and pays for 1	2 × 1,750,905 + 2,626,358	6,128,168	73,538,016

Before contributions, an apprentice in the practical phase costs COP 875,453 per month less than paying SENA, or COP 10,505,430 a year. That gap narrows once social security contributions and the benefits the law grants in the practical phase are added, and the exact figure belongs to your accountant. For a foreign parent, the peso amounts convert at whatever rate your treasury uses; this article applies none.

Does an apprentice cost the same as an employee on the minimum wage?

In the practical phase the support starts from the same amount, but the total cost is not identical and the law does not equate the two. An apprentice holds a fixed-term contract of up to three years, subordination limited to the learning, and a training purpose. The company must also support the training. Whether the transport allowance or other items apply to an apprentice, the text does not say: confirm it with a labor adviser and record the criterion.

Paying SENA instead of hiring: when the monetization of the quota makes sense

Monetization means paying SENA 1.5 minimum monthly wages for every apprentice the company does not hire. Article 23 of Law 2466 sets it by rewriting article 34 of Law 789 of 2002. The payment can be partial and is proportional to the number of apprentices left unhired.

From a finance view, monetization is a predictable monthly cost with no operational risk, but it costs more than the practical-phase support and returns nothing to the company. Hiring costs less before contributions and benefits, and can yield a person trained in your operation, in exchange for mentoring time and paperwork. The decision turns on whether the role is real.

Two points matter near a threshold. Going from 29 to 30 workers raises the quota from one apprentice to two, and that step belongs in the budget before you hire. And a contract with no real training behind it invites a dispute over what the contract is. As of October 2026 we found no SENA regulation after Law 2466 detailing how to pay the monetization, so ask your regional office for the current channel and calendar before accruing the expense.

Apprentices in monthly payroll and PILA: social security and benefits

The apprentice enters payroll and PILA under different rules in each phase. In the classroom phase, health and occupational risk cover is paid in full by the company as for an employee. In the practical phase, or throughout dual training, the apprentice is enrolled in occupational risk, pension and health as a dependent worker. Article 21 sets this out.

Who pays the apprentice's health cover during the classroom phase?

The sponsoring company pays health and occupational risk contributions for the apprentice in that phase, as for a dependent worker. The text lists no pension contribution for the classroom phase. The occupational risk contribution follows the risk level of the company and of the apprentice's tasks.

In the practical phase, the same article grants the apprentice payment of all benefits, allowances and other rights of the employment contract. The text does not say on what base they are calculated or how the support is entered on the filing. We treat those points as unverified: confirm the contribution base and the benefits with an accountant or with UGPP before the first filing. The general mechanics are in PILA: social security contributions for the employer.

Can a collective agreement raise the apprentice support?

Not through that route, because article 21 bars the support from being regulated by collective agreements, collective contracts or arbitration awards. The company may set a higher amount by its own decision, but the ceiling and conditions are not bargained collectively.

The aggregate effect of these choices is covered in the cost of employing in Colombia after the reform. How the monthly run itself works is in how to pay payroll in Colombia.

Checklist for the employer before hiring or paying SENA

Seven checks cover what most often fails when a company crosses the quota threshold. They suit a subsidiary of 20 and one of 90 alike.

1. Count workers at the close of the last month and work out the quota with the one-per-20 rule and the fraction of 10.
2. Ask the SENA regional office for the official quota and confirm the company is not in an exception.
3. Compare, role by role, the cost of hiring against paying SENA, using the 2026 SMMLV.
4. If you hire, sign the contract in writing, define the classroom and practical phases and keep the training plan on file.
5. Set the support at 75% or 100% according to track and phase, and fix the date of the phase change.
6. Confirm with your accountant the contribution base and practical-phase benefits, and record the criterion.
7. Budget the next step: if headcount will grow, work out when the quota rises.

For a worked case of a full monthly cost build, see case: a Colombian SMB with 30 employees and its payroll cost.

What Soulbit does today for apprentice pay, and what it does not

Soulbit does not calculate the apprentice support, file PILA, determine the apprentice quota or pay the monetization to SENA. Those tasks stay with the employer, its accountant or its payroll software. Soulbit also gives no legal, tax or accounting advice.

What Soulbit delivers today is the step after the calculation. With Soulbit Salaries, a company holds a balance in stablecoins such as USDC and USDT or in fiat currency, and disperses already-calculated payroll in batches or on a recurring schedule to Colombian bank accounts, with a local bank rail, institutional custody, KYB and AML/KYT monitoring. Each payment is traceable and the team offers human support. This is relevant for a foreign parent with dollar revenue funding peso payroll, including the apprentice's support alongside the rest of the team. The flow is in how to pay payroll with stablecoins in Colombia.

Soulbit does not claim a price or timing advantage over other routes. The mobile apps and the card are not yet available. And a fast dispersion does not fix a miscalculated support: if the amount leaves the payroll system wrong, the payment goes out wrong.