A workplace skills plan (WSP) and annual training report (ATR) submission forms part of compliance with the Skills Development Act. Compliance with the Skills Development Act has also become a pre-requisite in order to obtain a respectable B-BBEE level. In order to attain recognition under the Skills Development element of the B-BBEE scorecard, an organisation has to submit the WSP and ATR if the entity has a payroll of more than R 500 000 per annum and is also paying the skills development levies.
The aim of the Skills Development Act is to close the gap on the shortage of skills within a certain sector. In order to address the shortage of skills, a WSP and ATR capture the training that was done and the training to be implemented for the coming year. Each sector has its own Skills Education and Training Authority (SETA) where the WSP and ATR should be submitted. The deadline for this submission is annually on the 30th of April.
When submitting a WSP and ATR, an organisation can also claim back a percentage of the spend on training that was done. This can be done via a mandatory grant and a discretionary grant application submitted to the SETA. The skills development levies paid on a monthly basis to SARS, will form part of the grant that is paid out to the organisation.
Moreover, the submission of a WSP and ATR is also critical in obtaining an adequate B-BBEE level. The submission equips the organisation to obtain recognition for the training that was done under the Skills Development element on the B-BBEE scorecard. As the Skills Development element is a priority element and non-compliance (scoring less than 40% of the target) on this element would mean one B-BBEE level being discounted on the overall level obtained.
Each SETA has a list of the pivotal, scarce and critical skills relevant to that sector. The aim for the organisation would be to implement the pivotal, scarce and critical skills of the specific sector in order to obtain B-BBEE points and be eligible for the discretionary grant.
Not only will the non-submission of the WSP and ATR result in no points being scored on the Skills Development element, an organisation will also not be eligible to claim any grants.
This is a very broad overview of what is required in order to comply with the Skills Development Act and there are some technical aspects that needs to be discussed with a professional before implementation.