Skills Development and Training is core to the building of necessary capacity to fulfill South Africa development and job creation targets. In South Africa, the skills gap is one of the main barriers to job creation and one of the main causes for remuneration disparity.

The skills development Act 97 of 1998 and Amendment Act of 2008 seeks to assist to change the predicament by placing a responsibility on employers to assist with the training and up-skilling of employees.

The Act places a responsibility on employers to submit skills development plans and reports to the Department of Labour via relevant Setas per sector and requires employers to implement plans in order to build skills and train personnel.

The Act, therefore, provides an institutional framework to devise and implement national, sector and workplace strategies to develop and improve the skills of the South African workforce. It seeks to integrate those strategies within the National Qualifications Framework contemplated in the South African Qualifications Authority Act. It promotes for learnerships that lead to recognised occupational qualifications and it provides for the financing of skills development by means of a levy-grant scheme and a National Skills Fund where employers are required to pay monthly skills development levies where applicable, which levies may be claimed back by participating employers.

In terms of the Skills Development Levies Act, all organisations in South Africa with a payroll exceeding R500,000 per annum must pay a 1% Skills Development Tax on their payroll. In terms of the act, you may claim back up to 55% of this Skills Development Tax if:

1. you have paid the SDL tax
2. you provide approved training to employees in the organisation either internally or externally