Stand by for 30 April 2025
Does your business’s annual payroll exceed R500k? Do you have 50+ employees? In either case, you should be in full swing preparing your Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR), which must be submitted to your Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) by 30 April 2025 – no exceptions, no extensions!
Why Your WSP-ATR Matters
Your WSP-ATR is more than paperwork. It is actually your roadmap for employee skills development and the key to unlocking the Skills Development component of the BBBEE Scorecard. A well-prepared WSP not only boosts business performance but also helps close the skills gap among historically disadvantaged groups, driving inclusive economic growth.
Bottom line: Your WSP-ATR is vital to your business’s sustainability and competitiveness. Neglect it at your peril.
What exactly is the WSP-ATR?
- WSP (Workplace Skills Plan): Identifies the skills your workforce needs and outlines your training strategy for the coming financial year.
- ATR (Annual Training Report): Provides a record of all Skills Development initiatives completed in the current financial year (crucial for claiming BBBEE points).
Your ATR also measures your training progress against the previous year’s WSP, making it a key indicator of Skills Development within your company.
Who Must Submit a WSP & ATR?
Companies with a payroll that exceeds R500k per annum must be registered to pay a Skills Development Levies (SDL). Submitting a WSP-ATR allows you to claim back 20% of the SDL via a grant from your SETA and, critically, secure 20 points on your BBBEE Scorecard.
Your WSP-ATR Checklist: Get It Right!
To ensure a smooth submission, your WSP-ATR must 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 (Skills Development Facilitator)
- SDF Appointment Letter
- Signed Authorisation Form
- Hard-to-Fill Vacancies & Reasons
- Training Committee Members & ID Numbers
The Cost of Not Submitting? Huge!
Miss the deadline and your business can take a massive hit. Here’s what’s at stake:
- BBBEE Level Downgrade: Your business can earn up to 20 points for the Skills Development element on the B-BBEE scorecard – that’s two levels. But the loss of 20 skills development points by not submitting your WSP-ATR on time can see your BBBEE level drop by two levels – for instance, level 2 gets demoted to level 4 – with serious repercussions for current and future business opportunities. No submission, no points! What’s worse, any grant linked to the WSP will 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!
- Lost Grants: You’ll forfeit your mandatory grant, which is 20% of your SDL spend, to SARS, together with any discretionary grants. This means losing invaluable opportunities to enhance your competitiveness and the skills of your employees.
- Tender Rejections: Many tenders, especially for government, the public sector, parastatals and even corporates, require a WSP submission as a pre-qualifying criterion. No WSP? No chance of winning tenders.
- No Retrospective Claims: 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.
PICTURE THIS: The Price of Poor Planning
A company spends over R900k on training and development during the year and begins its BBBEE verification just a few weeks ahead of the WSP submission deadline. But the company has no WSP in place for the coming year, no skills audits were done, nor is there any documented ATR for its training spend.
This means that not only is all the company’s L&D investment for the year lost in terms of its BBBEE points, but it will also have to wait another year to submit its WSP.
The company then decides on a rushed learnership programme rollout before its financial year-end, to make up for lost skills development spend…but this provides no benefit for the current year as the learnerships will not be implemented and completed before 28 February. Two levels on the BBBEE scorecard are wiped out with the loss of 20 points.
There’s another big opportunity cost. By not planning ahead and having the WSP in place, the company loses out on the chance to implement learnerships for its own employees. These employees could have improved their skills and productivity, while the company could have allocated both the spend on their learnership training AND the salaries of its employed learners towards SD spend!
In a nutshell, the lack of planning and the knee-jerk reaction to rectify this will cost the business the equivalent of three times more in L&D spend than necessary. And both the HR and financial directors will have to account to their board.
WSP-ATR Gives a Competitive Edge
A WSP-ATR submission isn’t just about ticking boxes for BBBEE compliance. When done right, it’s a powerful strategic tool that helps businesses build a skilled workforce, gain competitive advantage, and drive economic transformation.
Ditch the last-minute scramble and start using WSPs to fuel your business growth, create jobs, and develop real skills.
The deadline is 30 April 2025. Plan ahead, act now, and secure your business’s future.
Talk to SA Business School
Chane Deneys – chaned@alefbetlearning.com
Aliecia van Rensburg – alieciar@alefbetlearning.com