SERVICES

Skills Development

The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is a mandatory 1% monthly payroll tax in South Africa imposed on employers with a total annual salary bill exceeding R500,000. Paid to SARS Home, these funds are used to fund training initiatives via Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to upskill employees and improve productivity.

Key Aspects of the Skills Development Levy:

Who Pays: Employers with a total annual payroll of more than R500,000.
Calculation: 1% of the total leviable amount (remuneration for PAYE purposes).
Exemptions: Public service employers, religious or charitable institutions, and public entities with 80% or more government funding are exempt.
Purpose: To fund workforce training and development, including learnerships, internships, and apprenticeships.
Payment Deadline: Must be paid to SARS Home by the 7th of the following month using the EMP201 form.
Benefits: Registered companies can claim back a portion of the levy through mandatory (20%) and discretionary grants by submitting a Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR).

Skills Development Facilitators assist companies to submit Training report to the relevant SETA that you are registered with. The Skills Development Levy (SDL submit their Workplace Skills Plan and Annual) is payable by employers in diﬀerent sectors of the economy and serves to fund learning and skills development programmes for socially and economically marginalised groups in South Africa.

Nexitron can oﬀer you the following services:

•Provides your business with an External Skills Development Facilitator

•Develops, implements, and submits a Workplace Skills Plan to the relevant SETA on behalf of the company

•Compile and submits an Annual training Report to the relevant SETA on behalf of the Employer before deadline 30 April

•Act as medium for communicating information between the employer and the relevant SETA

•Provides telephonic advice on any matter relating of Skills Development

•Compiles and submits the Discretionary Grant to the relevant SETA

•Compiling the necessary paperwork for issuing of BBBEE certiﬁcates.

Employment Equity

The Employment equity is a legal framework, particularly in South Africa via the Employment Equity Act , designed to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunity in the workplace. It aims to eliminate unfair discrimination and implement affirmative action measures to redress past disadvantages, ensuring equitable representation of black people, women, and people with disabilities.

Key aspects of employment equity include:

Prohibition of Discrimination: Eliminating unfair discrimination in any employment policy or practice, including recruitment, hiring, and promotion.
Affirmative Action: Implementing active measures to ensure suitably qualified individuals from designated groups (black people, women, and people with disabilities) are equally represented across all occupational levels
Compliance: Designated employers (with 50+ employees) must prepare and implement an employment equity plan, which includes setting targets for equitable representation.
Equal Pay: Ensuring equal pay for work of equal value, reducing pay disparities.

The Employment Equity Amendment Act of 2022, fully effective from January 1, 2025, with regulations in place by April 2025, mandates strict, sector-specific numerical targets for workforce transformation in South Africa. The law empowers the Labour Minister to set 5-year targets (running to 2030) for designated groups—Black people, women, and persons with disabilities—aiming for better representation at top and senior management levels.

Key aspects of the new employment equity framework:

Sector-Specific Targets: The Minister of Employment and Labour has established 18 distinct economic sector targets, replacing a one-size-fits-all approach with tailored,, industry-specific goals.
Compliance Certificate: A valid Employment Equity (EE) Compliance Certificate is mandatory for companies seeking to do business with the state, ensuring that only compliant employers receive state contracts.
Definition of "Designated Employer": While the Act applies to many, it reduces the compliance burden for small businesses (fewer than 50 employees).
Reporting Requirements: Designated employers must submit annual reports, and new regulations require them to detail their progress against the sector-specific targets.
Non-compliance: Failure to comply with the targets or to justify non-compliance with valid, justifiable reasons (such as a lack of qualified candidates or skills shortages) could lead to significant penalties.

It is compulsory to compile and submit an Employment Equity report to the Department of Labour, if you currently employ over 50 employees before October of each year or 15 January every year if submitted electronically.

Nexitron can oﬀer you the following services:

•Assistance and advice on setting up a committee and other employment equity structures and processes

•Compiling the annual analysis

•Compiling and submitting the Employment Equity Report and Income Diﬀerential Statement to the Department of Labour online before 15 January

•Recommending numerical targets and goals in line with demographics

•Advising on Department of Labour Employment Equity

•Completing and/or reviewing the Employment Equity Plan to ensure alignment with reports and progress and continuity with previous plans

•Submitting the annual review based on the previous year's progress and recommendations