Self-assessment
Skills Development Self-Assessment (Act and Levies)
12 yes/no questions on the Skills Development Levies Act and the Skills Development Act: whether you pay the levy, which SETA you belong to, your workplace skills plan and annual training report, and the grants you can claim back. You get a score for each area and a list of gaps with what to do about each one.
1. The skills development levy
Employers with an annual payroll above R500,000 pay a skills development levy of 1% of their total payroll. Check the current threshold with SARS, and whether any headcount trigger also applies, as one source mentioned 50 or more employees.
1. Do you know whether your annual payroll is above the levy threshold, and have you registered for the levy with SARS if it is?
(Skills Development Levies Act)
2. Do you pay 1% of your total monthly payroll as the levy, together with PAYE and UIF on your monthly EMP201, by the seventh of the next month?
(Skills Development Levies Act)
3. Does the payroll you base the levy on match your PAYE and UIF figures?
(Skills Development Levies Act)
4. Do you know which Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) your business falls under, based on your main activity?
(Skills Development Act s9)
2. Planning and reporting
Answer Not applicable in this section if you are below the levy threshold and do not claim grants.
1. Do you have a workplace skills plan (WSP) that sets out the training you plan for the coming year, with the skills needs of your business and staff?
(Skills Development Act, SETA grant regulations)
2. Do you submit an annual training report (ATR) showing the training you actually delivered?
(SETA grant regulations)
3. Do you submit both the WSP and the ATR to your SETA before the deadline each year (reported as 30 April for most SETAs)?
Reports say that if the documents are not submitted and accepted on time, the mandatory grant for the whole levy year can be lost. Confirm the date with your own SETA. (SETA grant regulations)
4. Do you have a skills development facilitator, or another person, who prepares the plan and report and deals with the SETA?
(SETA grant regulations)
3. Training and grants
1. Do you claim the mandatory grant back from your SETA, which is reported as 20% of the levy you paid, when you submit on time and your levy payments are up to date?
(SETA grant regulations)
2. Have you looked at discretionary grants, learnerships, apprenticeships and bursaries your SETA offers, which can fund training and count towards B-BBEE skills development?
(Skills Development Act)
3. If you run learnerships or apprenticeships, do you have a written agreement with each learner and follow the registered programme?
(Skills Development Act Chapter 4)
4. Do you keep evidence of the training you pay for (invoices, attendance registers, certificates) in a form you can show to a SETA or a B-BBEE verifier?
(SETA grant regulations, B-BBEE Codes)
Sources
- Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999 (gov.za)
- Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 (gov.za)
- Workplace skills plan and annual training report submissions (Creamer Media)
- Skills development levy: how to get some of your money back (Moonstone)
- Skills development levy 2026: what South African employers need to know (ShiftMate)
Turn these gaps into tracked tasks
Assign owners and due dates, keep the evidence, and show your progress to clients and auditors.