If your annual payroll is above R500 000 you already pay the skills development levy every month. A Workplace Skills Plan is how you claim part of it back. Here is what to submit, by when, and what counts.
A Workplace Skills Plan, usually shortened to WSP, is a document an employer submits to its Sector Education and Training Authority setting out the training it intends to do in the year ahead. It is submitted together with an Annual Training Report, the ATR, which records the training actually done in the year just finished. One looks forward, the other looks back.
The framework comes from the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998, which created the SETAs, and the Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999, which created the levy that funds them. The WSP is the mechanism that connects the two: it is how an employer shows what it is doing with skills, and it is the condition for getting part of its levy back.
The skills development levy is 1% of your total payroll. It is paid to SARS every month on the EMP201 return, alongside PAYE and UIF, and it has been 1% since the scheme began.
An employer becomes liable once annual payroll exceeds R500 000. Below that threshold you do not pay the levy, and the mandatory grant is not available to you.
Submitting a WSP is not a criminal duty in the way registering for COIDA is. It is a condition of getting money back. An employer that pays the levy and never submits a plan simply forfeits its share, year after year, which is why the plan is worth doing even for a small payroll.
An employer that submits a WSP and an ATR on time, and is up to date with its levy payments to SARS, can claim the mandatory grant. SETAs pay this back to the employer as a percentage of the levies it paid.
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| Levy rate | 1% of payroll, paid monthly to SARS on the EMP201 |
| Threshold | Payable once annual payroll exceeds R500 000 |
| Mandatory grant | 20% of the levies paid, returned to the employer |
| Condition | WSP and ATR submitted on time, and SDL payments up to date |
| Deadline | 30 April each year for most SETAs |
| Governed by | The SETA Grant Regulations and the Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999 |
There is a second pot, the discretionary grant, which SETAs award for specific programmes such as learnerships, internships and bursaries. It is applied for separately and it is not automatic. The mandatory grant is the one that follows from simply submitting your plan on time.
The grant percentage and the SETA structure have both been under review. Confirm the current rate and deadline with your own SETA before you budget for it, because the figure above is the long-standing published position rather than a guarantee for a given year.
A WSP is not a wish list. SETAs want to see training tied to the skills the business actually needs and to the people who will receive it. In practice a plan sets out:
The Annual Training Report is the mirror image: what was actually delivered, to whom, and what certificates came out of it. A plan that is never reported against is the most common reason a grant is refused.
The work is done by a Skills Development Facilitator, usually shortened to SDF. The SDF is the person the employer registers with its SETA to compile the WSP and ATR, submit them, and keep an eye on whether the levy payments to SARS and the grant payments from the SETA are both current.
On a small employer the SDF is often the HR or payroll person wearing another hat. On a large one it is a dedicated role, or an outside consultant. Either way the SETA deals with that named person.
Accredited short courses are the bulk of what most mining and construction employers put in a Workplace Skills Plan, because they are the training the site needs anyway. The appointments and tickets a site must hold are the obvious candidates: they are planned in the WSP, delivered during the year, and reported in the ATR.
| Training a site plans for | Why it is on the plan | Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Safety appointments | First aiders, fire fighters and an elected safety representative are required appointments, so the training recurs every time certificates lapse or people leave | Safety courses |
| Machine operator certificates | An operator needs a certificate per machine class, so a mixed fleet generates planned training every year | Earth moving and lifting machinery |
| Refresher training | Certificates expire, and renewals are predictable enough to plan a year ahead | Fees and refreshers |
| Trade entry routes | Bringing new people into a trade is the kind of development a SETA most wants to see in a plan | Skills programmes |
Two practical points. Keep the certificates, because the ATR has to be evidenced and an auditor will ask. And plan the training you were going to buy anyway before adding anything new: the grant rewards reporting what you did, not spending more.
Missing the submission date does not create a penalty the way a late Return of Earnings does under COIDA. The consequence is simpler: no grant for that year. You carry on paying 1% of payroll every month and get none of it back, and there is generally no catching up afterwards.
For an employer with a R6 million payroll that is R60 000 in levy a year, and a mandatory grant worth R12 000 at the published rate, given up for a document that takes a few days to prepare.
Fundza Training Institute trains groups on site anywhere in South Africa, or at our centre in Mokopane. Every learner gets a certificate the employer can check online, which is what the Annual Training Report needs as evidence.
There is no criminal penalty for not submitting one, unlike failing to register for COIDA. But the mandatory grant is only paid to employers who submit a WSP and an ATR on time and whose levy payments are up to date. An employer that pays the levy and never submits simply forfeits its share each year.
The Workplace Skills Plan sets out the training you intend to do in the year ahead. The Annual Training Report records the training you actually did in the year just finished. They are submitted together, and a plan that is never reported against is the most common reason a grant is refused.
For most SETAs it is 30 April each year, covering the financial year that runs from 1 April. Dates do vary between SETAs, so confirm yours rather than assuming. Missing it generally means no grant for that year, with no way to catch up afterwards.
The long-standing published position is a mandatory grant of 20% of the levies you paid, returned to you by your SETA, provided the WSP and ATR were submitted on time and your SDL account with SARS is current. Grant rates and the SETA structure have been under review, so confirm the current figure with your own SETA before budgeting for it.
Yes. Accredited short courses are the bulk of what most mining and construction employers put in a plan, because they are the training the site needs anyway: safety appointments, machine operator certificates and the refreshers that fall due as certificates expire. Keep the attendance registers and certificates, because the ATR has to be evidenced.
A Skills Development Facilitator registered with your SETA. On a smaller employer that is usually the HR or payroll person taking on the role; on a larger one it is a dedicated position or an outside consultant. The SETA deals with that named person for the submission and for grant queries.
No. Below R500 000 in annual payroll you do not pay the skills development levy, and the mandatory grant is not available to you. You can still buy training, and you will still need the safety appointments and operator certificates the law requires, but there is no levy to claim back.
