Workplace Skills Plans and Training reports assist government to track their socio-political program to train individuals in the Country. Large Enterprises are compelled to partake in this national training initiative, but small to medium enterprises often don’t see the benefit. However, it may be that the tax allowances and SETA kickbacks present opportunities otherwise not accessible.
With due respect, it is the testimony of many companies that they have had to capitulate to onerous BEE ownership structures which they don’t understand – all because they were not advised on the hidden benefits of subject of Skills Development.
To start your journey to unlock the imperceptible benefits, please read through the questions and answers below and call us to apply these benefits to you in real deal bottom line benefits.
Any employer whose salary/wage bill exceeds R500 000.00 over the next 12 months are obliged to pay 1% of the salary/wage bill to SARS.
Any amount of income which is paid or is payable to any person whether in cash or otherwise and whether or not in respect of services rendered for example:
Where an employer is liable to pay the levy he/she must register per EMP 101 (Application for Registration) as an employer with the SARS office in which area the business is situated and indicate thereon the jurisdiction of the SETA within which the employer must be classified as well as the applicable SIC Code (Sector Industry Code).
Employers pay the levy to SARS, SARS capture and sorts all the information;
MANDATORY GRANT
People often ask the question “I have spent an X amount in training, how much can I claim from the SETA?” Please note that the Mandatory Grant Payment Process does not involve claiming expenses for training from a SETA. It is simply a mechanism to receive the Mandatory Grant back. Employers who meet the set criteria will qualify for the SETA Mandatory Grant payments.
In order to receive its Mandatory Grant, as well as to gain access to Discretionary Grants, organisations that contribute Skills Development levies are required to submit an Annual Training Report (ATR), Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and/or the PIVOTAL Training Plan (PTP) and the PIVOTAL Training Report (PTR) to the SETA. The ATR and/or the PTR provide data relating to the training that was implemented during the previous year, and the WSP and/or the PTP provide data relating to the training that is intended to be implemented during the forthcoming year.
DISCRETIONARY GRANT:
Programmes to develop in accordance with priorities outlined in Seta Sector.
PIVOTAL PROGRAMMES:
Pivotal Programmes are professional, vocational, technical and academic learning programmes, which result in qualifications or part qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF):
TYPES OF TRAINING INTERVENTIONS:
MANDATORY GRANT
The Mandatory Grant Payment Process does not involve claiming expenses for training from a SETA. It is simply a mechanism to receive the Mandatory Grant back.
Employers who meet the set criteria will qualify for the SETA Mandatory Grant payments. The SETA may not pay a Mandatory Grant to an employer who is liable to pay the skills development levy in terms of Section 3(1) of the Skills Development Act, unless the levy paying employer:
LEARNERSHIPS
A Learnership results in a qualification. It is a workplace education and training programme comprising of both structured practical workplace (on-the-job) experience (70% of the content) and structured theoretical training (30% of the content) conducted against registered Unit Standards at an accredited Training Institution. The duration of a Learnership is approximately twelve months.
INTERNSHIP
An Internship is a programme designed to give tertiary graduates and University of Technology learners an opportunity to extend/obtain their academic qualifications with structured workplace exposure and specialised training. Participants are placed on a full-time basis, generally for a period of six to twelve months, in stakeholder companies and government organisations, the purpose of which is to provide the learner with workplace experience that builds on the qualification or assists in completing the qualification.
Either employed or unemployed persons can get involved in an Internship. The Internship usually involves just the learner, who is a potential employee to a company, and the potential employer. Taking note of the learner’s level of education, capabilities and experience, the employer or training provider defines the workplace programme that must be completed for the learner to obtain the required skills for the work to be performed.
SKILLS PROGRAMME
A Skills Programme is a short learning intervention conducted against registered Unit Standards at an accredited Training Institution, and the training programme must include a workplace component. It does not result in a full qualification, but the accumulation of credit-bearing Skills Programmes may lead to or contribute towards a full qualification.
SHORT COURSE
A Short Course is any learning or development programme that may or may not lead to credits towards an NQF registered qualification”, classroom or simulated or classroom and simulated. No workplace component. Short Courses have no workplace training component and may or may not include training that is aligned to unit standards. Likely examples include:
Note that evidence must be kept to confirm that this training took place. Evidence would include the agenda for the training, the signed attendance register reflecting start and end times, credits against registered unit standards (in some instances), etc.
The ATR/PTR and WSP/PTP data must be submitted onto the Online Grant System (no hardcopy submissions will be accepted) before midnight 30th April.
There will be no extensions provided for late submissions.
TRAINING COMMITTEE: INTRODUCTION
A very important responsibility of the employer is to ensure the establishment of a Training Committee. Employers with 50 or more employees must establish a Training Committee for active participation with regard to skills development matters within an organisation.
As stated above, in the case of an employer who has a recognition agreement with a trade union/s, evidence must be provided that the ATR/PTR and WSP/PTP have been subjected to consultation with the recognised trade union/s and the ATR/PTR and WSP/PTP must be signed off by the labour representative appointed by the recognised trade union.
COMPOSITION OF THE TRAINING COMMITTEE
The Training Committee must comprise three constituent parties: the employer representative, the employee representative and union representative (where applicable). The SDF remains a critical member of the Training Committee at all times. The number of employees and employer representatives must be equal.
No employee representative shall be a manager. At least one employee representative must represent one of the Major OFO codes presented in the table below, unless there are no employees in the major OFO category.
The employee representative must be an employee of the organisation who is nominated or elected by the employees, and must not be in a management position.
The employee representatives must discuss the training and development needs with other employees and must bring employee queries and suggestions to the Training Committee for discussion and/or implementation.
The SDF can neither be the employee nor the employer representative.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRAINING COMMITTEE
Using The South African Labour Market Guide as a guide, the SETA adopted the following as the responsibilities of the Training Committee. It should be noted that it is at the discretion of the Training Committee to place some of these responsibilities partially or wholly on the SDF.
The Training Committee must: