The Department of Defence and Military Veterans is looking at innovative ways to deal with the critical skills shortage in some of its wings. ...more

Does working for a company preclude an individual from being an entrepreneur? Most certainly not; indeed, some of the best innovations and developments are achieved by people who are working for large corporations. Anthony Farr, CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation discusses the discipline of entrepreneurship. ...more

A policy shift that has largely gone unnoticed in the public domain is that the government has in principle accepted that planned and managed immigration should be harnessed as a development strategy to bring needed skills and business investment into South Africa. Leon Isaacson explains. ...more

Instead of relying on government grants, about 1 000 young women will receive training in various skills development programmes giving them the opportunity to earn a decent living. Gabi Khumalo reports. ...more

The first budget for the new department of Higher Education and Training will see nearly R20 billion going to university education and over R3 billion for FET Colleges. In addition Seta skills levy income will generate R6,7 billion for skills development and R1,6 billion for the National Skills Fund. ...more

Whilst the educational learning pathways for teachers in the formal education sector have been clearly constructed, adult learning practitioners do not enjoy the same structured pathways. Mark Orpen, at the Institute of People Development presents a different approach. ...more

The BANKSETA has appointed a new Chairman. As Sipho Ngidi’s tenure as BANKSETA Chairman ends, he has handed over the reins to SASBO Assistant General Secretary, Eugene Ebersohn. ...more

It's been a decade since Fasset commenced its first skills development initiatives. Three learners from these projects have found employment within the Fasset team. They share their success stories with us. ...more

Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, hailed the launch of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations as a landmark day that commemorated a decade of hard work on skills development in South Africa. Wilson Nzimande from the Coastal KZN FET College is the first Chairperson of the organisation. ...more

While the Department of Labour is in the final stages of establishing the QCTO framework, Milpark Business School, in partnership with the IOB, has been appointed by the Bankseta to pilot the first official QCTO qualification in the Banking Sector. ...more

For the first time, business can look forward to demand-led education that is responsive and tailored to the needs of the economy. When it eventually gets off the ground, the QCTO will dramatically change the lives of all skills and organisational development professionals, writes Jim Freeman. ...more

Des Squire looks at the changes we can expect from the introduction of the Occupational Qualifications Framework by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations. ...more

Big changes are in store for the legislative framework that guides education and training in the country. Des Squire is feeling excited about the proposed changes, particularly the streamling of the quality assurance function and an end to the arguments about who owns what qualification! He outlines the proposed changes in more detail. ...more

Every employer that pays remuneration of over R500 000.00 per year must pay skills development levies. ...more

Monthly, you pay 1% of your total payroll to the SARS. (They withhold a 2 ½% admin cost.) However, it’s usually put across to simplify it that 80% of the levies paid by employers registered in each sector are paid over to the Seta covering that sector and 20% to the National Skills Fund (NSF). ...more

The refund of the skills levies is called a Mandatory grant, that is: if you comply with the conditions, then you qualify to receive the levy refund. ...more

The two reports are the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and the Annual Training Report. (ATR) ...more

There are a variety of formats, some Seta reports are in Word documents, some in Excel, and some have on-line submission. Most of the Setas have now developed a single form for both reports. ...more

The basic information required is legislated by the Department of Labour. Each Seta may set additional quality requirements on the reports submitted. Examples of quality requirements set by different Setas are: ...more

If I have registered an SDF and submitted a completed WSP and ATR on time, will I automatically receive a percentage of my skills levies back? There are two stages of the reclaim process: ...more

If I have completed and submitted a Grant Claim Form,when will I receive the levy refund? Setas usually pay the levy refunds quarterly, a month or two in arrears. ...more

What happens to the skills levies if employers don’t register an SDF and submit their reports? There are always additional monies left over after the reclaim process. Employers who do participate benefit from their non-participating competitor's contributions. ...more

What is the difference between Mandatory Grants & Discretionary grants? ...more

How does a Seta decide on what sort of activities to cover with discretionary grants and special projects? Each Seta has to sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the Department of Labour. These are performance targets which are closely aligned to the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) targets. ...more

Can any company benefit from special projects and discretionary grants? Setas do have targets in their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to assist small, medium and micro enterprises. ...more

I am an SDF and my boss has asked me why I don’t receive the same percentage of our levies back as we used to. Can you please explain why this is? ...more