The South African Skills Development Legislation states that every employer who is registered with SARS for PAYE and who has an annual payroll in excess of R500 000, or 50 plus staff members are required to pay skill levies. The skills development levy is calculated as 1% of the total amount paid in salaries to employees. If you are one of these organisations, you need to submit your Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR) to your specific SETA, you are then also able to apply for grants from the SETA.

So what are WSPs, ATRs and Grants?

WSP

A WSP is a Workplace Skills Plan, this is a compulsory compliance element for any organization that meets the above-mentioned criteria. The Workplace Skills Plan is a plan that identifies the training needs of the organization and addresses these gaps as well as the funding required to meet these gaps. A Workplace Skills Plan addresses gaps that are identified through a skills audit or performance management system. The organisational level Workplace Skills Plans inform the Sectoral Skills Plan for the SETA. WSPs are submitted to the SETA every year. In order to receive recognition for your Skills Development spend on the B-BBEE scorecard, you must have submitted a WSP to your SETA and have proof of this submission.

ATR

An ATR is an Annual Training Report, this is another compulsory element for any organisation that meets the above-mentioned criteria. The Annual Training Report follows on the Workplace Skills Plan and reports on the interventions concluded in the previous year as per the previous WSP. This report will also include training registers and expenditure on training interventions. The ATR is submitted with the “forward-looking” WSP every year and is also required for recognition of Skills Development spend on the B-BBEE scorecard.

Grants

There are two types of grants – mandatory and discretionary grants. Mandatory grants are calculated at 20% of an employer’s skills development levy. Discretionary grants are paid out at the discretion of the SETA. In order to apply for grants from the SETA, an organisation must submit their ATR and WSP by the deadline.

WSPs and ATRs are compiled by Skills Development Facilitators and are submitted along with Grant applications to the SETAs in the first quarter before the 30th of April every year.

Apex Transformation Advisory has highly qualified and expert Skills Development Compliance professionals that can assist with your Skills Facilitation including WSP, ATR, and Grant application compilation and submissions.