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Employers - FAQ's
Table of Contents
Getting Started
- What is a
learnership?
Levy Questions - Who must pay the
levy?
- How does an
employer register for the levy?
- Are any
employers exempt from paying the levy?
- To whom are
levies payable?
- How are levies
payable?
- What amount is
payable?
- By when is the
levy payable?
- Is there any
interest and penalty incurred for late or non-payment?
Training - Why is it
important for a company to use Education and Training Quality Assurance
(ETQA) accredited and/or registered providers?
- Does this mean
that employers will not be able to claim for employees sent overseas for
training?
- How will
workplace assessment be conducted if an organisation uses only external
providers?
Accreditation - Must internal
training departments also be accredited by the ETQA?
- For which
different kinds of registered providers can the organisation make a
claim for training completed?
Workplace Skills Plan - What is the
purpose of a Workplace Skills Plan?
Annual Training Report - What is an
Annual Training Report?
Questions and Answers:
Getting Started
- Q: What is a learnership?
A: A learnership
is a structured programme, of necessary training and essential practice,
designed to take place over the period of one year. It is structured in
that it combines elements of education and training, with working
experience. At the end of the learnership, learners have the opportunity
of being assessed and certificated as competent, at a level comparable
with people working on a full-time and permanent basis in an Industry.
A learnership is a fixed-term agreement between employer and learner
(employee) and is possibly the only fixed-term agreement that does not
give rise to any expectation of ongoing employment at the end of the
learnership in the case of Section 18.2 Learners (unemployed or
pre-employed).
The principle benefit of a learnership is that the employer has the
benefit of receiving a Learnership Grant from ESETA, which will cover
part or all of the costs of on-the-job training and education, any
external training and education, assessments and also, where the learner
is a new employee and not an existing employee, a Wage Subsidy.
The reason that an industry would be prepared to fund a learnership
in a particular company is that where this type of development occurs,
the entire industry benefits from a skills level upliftment and also
pre-qualified pools of skilled people (determined by industry demand)
become available for employment in jobs for which they have been trained
in, and assessed as competent, for.
Levy Questions - Q: Who must pay the levy?
A: Payment
towards the levy grant scheme is legislated in terms of the
Skills Development Levies
Act, 1999. Under this act every employer in South Africa who;
must register
with SARS to pay the Skills Development Levy (SDL).
- Q: How does an employer register for the
levy?
A: Every employer who is liable to pay the levy
must register for the payment of the levy with SARS by completing a
registration form. (Form SDL 101 available from all SARS offices).
In order to register the employer must:
- Obtain a registration form (SDL 101) from any SARS office, if not
received by mail,
- Choose from a list of registered Energy Sector Education and
Training Authorities (ESETA) as indicated in the ESETA classification
guide provided with the registration form, the one ESETA most
representative of your activities.
- Choose a Standard
Industry Classification (SIC) from the ESETA classification guide
which most accurately describes the nature of your business.
- Q: Are any employers exempt from paying the
levy?
A: Yes. The exemptions are applicable if certain
provisions are met. Application for such exemptions is contained in the
SDL 101 form, issued by the Commissioner of SARS, who will
ultimately adjudicate whether you qualify for exemption or not.
- Q: To whom are levies payable?
A: Levies
are payable to SARS,
which acts as a collecting agency for the Department of Labour and
the SETAs.
- Q: How are levies payable?
A: Each month
SARS will provide
all registered employers with a "Return for Remittance" form (SDL 201),
which enables you to calculate the amount payable and effect payment.
- Q: What amount is payable?
A: The amount
payable will be calculated as follows: From 1 April 2001 onwards - 1% of
the total amount of remuneration paid to employees. Any prescribed
exclusions that are not leviable are subtracted from the total
remuneration.
- Q: By when is the levy payable?
A: The
levy must be paid over to SARS (after
registration), not later than SEVEN days after the end of the month in
respect of which the levy is payable, under cover of a SDL 201 return
form.
- Q: Is there any interest and penalty incurred for late or
non-payment?
A: SARS will impose both
interest and penalties for late or non-payment of levies.
Training - Q: Why is it important for a company to use Education and
Training Quality Assurance (ETQA) accredited and/or registered
providers?
A: According to the Skills Development Act
organisations will only be able to claim grants on the basis of National Qualification
Framework (NQF) registered unit standards and qualifications. While
there may be a grace period while the Sector Education and
Training Authorities (SETAs) and South African
Qualifications Authority (SAQA) get established, in future,
organisations will only be able to register claims if they make use of
accredited and/or registered providers.
- Q: Does this mean that employers will not be able to
claim for employees sent overseas for training?
A: Any
training towards unit standards and qualifications will be eligible.
Training not associated with credits for unit standards and towards
qualifications will not be eligible for grant funds.
- Q: How will workplace assessment be conducted if an
organisation uses only external providers?
A:
Organisations will have to ensure that adequate provision is made for
the capacity to conduct assessment when external providers are employed
to do training in organisations. The external provider will have to
assume full accountability for all aspects of training including that of
quality assurance.
Accreditation - Q: Must internal training departments also be accredited
by the ETQA?
A: Yes, if the company intends to claim back
for the training provided.
- Q: For which different kinds of registered providers can
the organisation make a claim for training completed?
A:
There are four kinds of recognised providers for which claims will be
recognised;
- Internal education and training providers, such as human resources
or training and development departments.
- External education and training providers, such as training
companies and consultancies.
- Education Training Quality Assurance providers, who will be
responsible for assessing the quality of training, as well as the
moderation of learnerships and qualifications.
- Recognition of
Prior Learning (RPL) providers, who will be responsible for
assessing and moderating applications for qualifications based on
prior learning.
Workplace Skills Plan - Q: What is the purpose of a Workplace Skills
Plan?
A: There is interaction between management and
employees as they start to discuss skills in the workplace. Skills as
well as shortfalls are identified and discussed in the workplace.
Management starts to discuss the companies' goals with employees who
in turn commit to the process of achieving these goals. Management gets
the opportunity to discover talent as well as skills that they did know
that they had.
Annual Training Report - Q: What is an Annual Training Report?
A:
This report consists of all attendance registers, proof of expenditure,
training provider used in this report the ESETA can establish whether
training was done or is in the process of being done. This report will
allow the ESETA to compensate the employer for money spent when
implementing the Workplace Skills Plan for the training that you have
funded for your staff.
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