- Business with 50+ employees or an annual payroll of more than R500 000 have until 30th April to submit their Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Record of Training (ATR).
- Doing so will allow the business to claim 20 percent of its Skills Development Levies from the relevant Sector Education and Training Authority.
- Failing to submit a WSP and ATR on time can lead to penalties and loss of BBBEE points.
Businesses with more than 50 employees or an annual payroll over R500 000 should be registered to pay Skills Development Levies and they can claim some of this money back if they follow the correct procedures.
These include submitting Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Record of Training (ATR) to the Sector Education and Training Authority by 30th April 2024. The benefit of doing this is that a company can claim 20 percent of its Skills Development Levies through a grant from its most relevant SETA. Additionally, these submissions add 20 points to a business’ BBBEE scorecard.
However, while some additional money and an improved BBBEE score are nice, as Anton Visser, group chief operating officer of SA Business School explains it also gives your business a leg up.
“Submission of a WSP and ATR should be more than a BBBEE compliance exercise. When done in the proper spirit and intent of the WSP and BBBEE scorecard, it’s a strategic enabler to competitive advantage for your business and your people. It is time to abandon the tick-box approach to skills development, and to embrace the intent of these tools to address critical skills shortages, create jobs, progress careers and deliver a competitive advantage for businesses and our economy,” says Visser.
The WSP and ATR also serve to help a business identify what skills need to be enhanced over the year with the ATR serving to keep a record of the training that has taken place.
Key inclusions in the WSP and ATR according to Visser include:
- Current Employee List,
- Employee List for Previous Training Period,
- Total Payroll Figure,
- Comprehensive Training Completed Summary,
- Proof of Training Completed,
- Comprehensive Training Plan,
- Proof of bank details,
- Registered SDF,
- SDF Appointment Letter,
- Signed Authorisation Form,
- Hard to fill vacancies with reasons,
- Training Committee Members with ID numbers.
Failing to submit these documents can lead to penalties and a loss of BBBEE points. The latter specifically could see your business finding it harder to find business opportunities with government institutions, the public sector and even other businesses.
“The WSP-ATR is a big deal in terms of your business sustainability and viability, so give it the care and attention it deserves,” adds Visser.
The COO outlined the risks of not submitting a WSP and ATR by 30th April below.
- “Your business can earn up to 20 points for the Skills Development element on the B-BBEE scorecard – that’s two levels. So the loss of the 20 skills development points by not submitting your WSP-ATR on time will see your BBBEE level drop by two levels – your level 2 gets demoted to level 4 – with serious repercussions for your current and future business opportunities especially in the government, corporate and public sectors. No submission, no points! And any grant linked to the WSP will then also be suspended for the following year until the submission window opens again. In essence you’re losing the benefits of two years of L&D investment, not just one!
- You’ll forfeit your mandatory grant which is 20% of your SDL spend to SARS – as well as any discretionary grants. This means losing invaluable opportunities to improve the skills of your own employees and your business competitiveness suffers as a result.
- If your BBBEE level drops by two levels, you may find that you’re unable to participate successfully in any tender bids, especially where those specify pre-qualifying criteria such as the submission of a WSP. The opportunity cost is huge.
- Any financial benefits of the training undertaken are permanently lost to you, as you cannot account for them retroactively or recoup any of the levies in the following financial year. The doors are closed in terms of the BBBEE scorecard points you could have claimed.”
