Amendments to the Skills Development Element (Code 300) of the BEE Codes of Good Practice as published on 31 May 2019 will be effective as of 1 December 2019.
In terms of these amendments to the Skills Development Element, the compliance target for skills development expenditure on learning programmes for black people has been reduced from 6% to 3.5% of the leviable amount and the weighting has been reduced from 8 to 6 points.
This target includes all accredited as well as unaccredited training expenditure for black employees as well as black people. Please just keep in mind that with any unaccredited training you are capped. The cap for the skills development expenditure for unaccredited (informal and workplace learning) programmes has increased to 25% from the previous limit of 15%.
A new sub-element for skill development expenditure has been introduced namely bursaries for black students at higher education institutions. With a target of 2,5% of the leviable amount and a weighting of 4 scorecard points. The overall Economically Active Population (EAP) demographic representation of black people in South Africa applies to the compliance target set for these bursaries and scholarships and will have to be taken into account in the process of calculating the points. Bursaries as per the skills development matrix provided in the amended scorecard include expenditure on institution-based theoretical training at accredited training providers registered with the Department of Basic Education or the Department of Higher Education and which will result in the achievement of a degree, diploma or certificate.
It is also important to remember that any amount claimed under the bursary indicator cannot be claimed under the Skills Development Expenditure indicator and vice versa.
Another important amendment to the Skills Indicator is the increase of the leadership target from 2.5% to 5%. The leadership that must be registered must be toward black people (as defined by the Codes) and can be towards employees or non-employees.
Please contact your legal advisor should you have any questions regarding the new amendments towards the Skills Development Element.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Johan Bekker is an admitted attorney who completed his B.Com(Law) degree at the University of the Free State (UFS) and his LLB degree at the North-West University of Potchefstroom (NWU). Johan has been working at SEESA since May 2019 and currently holds the position of legal advisor in the BEE department at our Bloemfontein branch.