You can only claim your SDL contributions back if
... You've submitted a workplace skills plan and an annual training report
The 2013 – 2014 skills development cycle ended on 31 March. Is your business in compliance with the new skills development cycle's requirements? Even though you may still submit your workplace skills plan and annual training report for the current cycle until the end of June 2014, you may claim for training done up until the 31 March 2014. You many only claim for training, done after this deadline, in the 2014 – 2015 cycle. What types of training can you claim for?
The first, and by far the most sought-after, type of training is registered or accredited training:
- This is where the employer sends its employees to accredited service providers to receive training on various subjects, such as first aid, fire-fighting or forklift training. The service provider customarily certifies successful employees.
- The second type of training may be referred to as in-house training. This is where an employee receives on-the-job training in work-related issues from a supervisor or similar senior person.
Some employers view the Skills Development Act as a headache
The truth is that no matter what kind of training you, as an employer, provide your employees with, developing the skills of your employees invariably adds value back to the company.
While the employee's quality of life improves, the company gains an employee who is:
- More productive,
- Less prone to absenteeism, and
- More capable of positively affecting the company's bottom-line.
Most importantly, you'll be recognised in terms of positive skills development.
To ensure that your business capitalises on this opportunity, ensure that all training that you have done between 1 April 2013 and the 31 March 2014 is recorded as per your annual training report.
This is easily done in the case of accredited trainers, where the certificate that the employee earns - together with the relevant invoice for the training delivered - may serve as proof.
Store these carefully as your particular Seta may not ask for this documentation immediately.
If in-house training is done, ensure that you keep an attendance register, including the:
- The attending employee's signature and credentials of the trainer, and
- A record of the relevant module that was trained on.
This should be accompanied by a calculation of the training's cost-to-company.
How do you calculate a training session's cost-to-company?
1. Add the trainer's hourly salary the trainee's, and
2. Multiply this result by the amount of hours spent on training.
If you don't submit your workplace skills plan and the annual training report before the end of June 2014, you'll forfeit your right to claim grants from you Seta. What's worse, if you don't submit this documentation timeously, you may be inadvertently negatively affecting your BEE rating:
- If you have a gross annual turnover of more than R35 million, measured under the generic scorecard, you can't count 1% spent on training towards its skills development element unless you have submitted an annual training report and a workplace skills plan.
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Peter did a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Human Resources Management and Services at Technikon Witwatersrand (1994-1998) and an Advanced Diploma – Labour Law, Law at University of Johannesburg (2001-2002). He joined Labour Net in 1997 and was a consultant there until 2000, and has been a director and shareholder in Invictus Outsourcing Solutions since November 2001. Peter has gained extensive knowledge and experience over the past 17 years in dealing with various Human Resources (HR) and Industrial Relations (IR) matters, including but not limited to :
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