Skills Development

If you are an employer paying over R500 000 per year towards salaries and wages, then you should be registered for paying the monthly 1% Skills Development Levy (SDL) as prescribed by the Skills Development Act & Skills Development Levies Act. Other criteria may also apply. As a levy paying company you will be required to complete and submit compulsory reports and plans to the different SETAs.  Qualifying organisations will receive a % of skills development levies that they paid back after approval of the reports.  The funds are reimbursed on a quarterly basis only if quality standards, as set by the SETAs are met.

 

An organisation will qualify to recover up to 20% of their skills spend as a Mandatory Grant allocated from Skills Development Levies already paid to SARS on submission of the WSP/ATR.

An organisation becomes eligible to apply for 49.5 % of the levies as Discretionary Grants from the affiliated SETA, provided that a PIVOTAL plan and report has been accepted and approved by the SETA. These grants can assist the organisation to effectively implement skills plans, e.g. Learnerships, Internships or Skills Training Programmes.

 

The Workplace Skills Plan (WSP), Annual Training Report (ATR) & PIVOTAL reports (Professional, Vocational, Technical and Academic Training) submission deadline is 30 April annually. Preparing and submitting these documents can be very time-consuming, confusing and stressful. 

 

What is a Workplace Skills Plan?

 

The Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) is intended to document the skills needs in a company and to describe the range of skills development interventions that the company will use to address these needs.  It assists employers in identifying and providing relevant training that will address the skills gaps within the organisation. Compiling a WSP ensures that training is not only reactive to needs that emerge but also speaks to the overall organisational strategy, as well as encourages a holistic and sustainable approach to skills development. A well thought-out WSP will ensure that the skills that an organisation lacks are being addressed. This, in turn, will result in decreased training and development costs as development efforts are more focused.

 

A WSP must be developed and submitted every year in order to comply with current Skills Development legislation. The WSP will normally be compiled by a registered Skills Development Facilitator (SDF) or other qualified person and submitted to the SETA.  

 

By complying with legislative requirements, a company is granted access to the various SETA grants available for skills training. However, in order to qualify for these grants, organisations must also ensure that their Annual Training Reports (ATR) are also submitted. This report is intended to show your progress against your last WSP.

 

ATR – Annual Training Report

 

The ATR accompanies the WSP and is submitted along with the WSP. As stated above, the ATR is intended to show your progress against your last WSP. The report reflects the education, training and development that were implemented in the previous year. Your ATR will assist you in identifying the success/ failure of your previous efforts, thus allowing you to identify areas which you can improve on in order to remain effective and competitive. Records of all education, training and development activities should be available to confirm the information given in the report.

 

PIVOTAL Reports 

 

Any organisation that would like to access the Discretionary grants must plan and implement training that fall under the PIVOTAL criteria:

• Learnerships
• Apprenticeships
• Recognition of prior learning (RPL)
• Work-integrated learning (WIL) and internships
• Workplace experience
• Public FETC graduates
• Graduate Development (UoT and University graduates) NQF 5-7
• Bursaries for University of Technology, Public FETCs and University studies within the relevant SETA scope (MBA &PHD studies)
• Bursaries awarded to NQF level 4 & 5 graduates entering universities.
• Credit bearing short courses
• Scarce & Critical skills programmes (Bursars at FET's on Scarce skills)
• Bursars at Universities on Scarce Skills
• Artisan programmes (WRSETA)
• AET - NQF level 1 qualification

 

What are the consequences of failing to submit a WSP/ATR & PIVOTAL report?

These consequences include, but are not limited to the following:

No points will be earned for the Skills Development element on the B-BBEE scorecard. Skills Development has been identified as a Priority Element under the New B-BBEE Codes of Good practice. This means that businesses must focus on Skills Development to achieve the sub-minimum requirement for each category in the element or potentially face a loss in their BEE Level, irrespective of the overall scoring.

 

Forfeiture of Mandatory and Discretionary Grants.

 

Unsuccessful tender bids as tenders may be subject to rigorous pre-qualifying criteria such as submission of a WSP.