Avijeet Das once said “Dreams are achieved by sweat, blood, tears and iron will!”. This is so true when looking at the journey we took to get to this first newsletter. Each and every company in our beautiful country once had to go through the exact same path, and with compliance legislation changing on a daily basis, this is still very much true in making a business work and grow in the current economic environment.

We (us and you) sweat every day in the light of our hard labour, looking after the core function of our business to make it work.

We bleed looking after our resources and their futures, especially during this very trying time.

We do so well, and then legislation change and threatens the livelihood of not only our business but our human resources, this make us sometimes throw hands in the air and cry out with tears….

 

The annual WSP submission date of 30 April has been extended, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, to 31 May 2020 by the Minister of Higher Education and Training.

It is essential to ensure your submission is done to your SETA. This will not only assist you with receiving a mandatory grant from the SETA, but also qualify your business for additional funding.

WSP submission and approval is also an essential part of your BEE scorecard.  

Without the submission, you will forfeit all your skills development points.This can lead to non-compliance or a less than satisfying BEE Level.

Additionally, two SETA’s have also opened a discretionary grant window for further funding. H&W SETA & INSETA has invited their stakeholders to apply for discretionary grants for the current skills year.

Another scheme that is not related to the COVID-19 UIF TERS fund, is the Training Layoff Scheme, also referred to as the Temporary Employment Related Scheme. Employers should not confuse the UIF COVID-19 TERS fund with the Training Layoff Scheme.

The Training Layoff Scheme is especially designed for employers that are looking at retrenchment of staff due to operational requirements based on financial distress.

The fund provides temporary relief by means of a training fund from the SETA’s to assist employers to retrain their staff and getting financial relief for a period of 3 – 6 months. The application access is through the CCMA and in collaboration with the Department of Employment and Labour, Nedlac, National Skills Fund and the SETA.

It gives the option to the employer to suspend an employee’s services for a timeframe or even reduce their working hours and therefore the compensation linked to the employment contract. 

It is a real pleasure to introduce to you our exceptional team members and strategic partners with a will of iron.

As much as we  believe one size does not fit all, we also believe you cannot be everything to everybody and where there is a will there is a way.

As ironWILL we have teamed up with specific experts in specific areas to enable us to provide out client with a unique scope of services. 

Will of iron is sometimes needed to face the day to day challenges in our business, thinking not only of the core function but also to look after compliance to ensure we can trade and therefore grow.

Welcome to ironWILL, an exceptional team of individuals that dreams with you, assisting your business in achieving legislative objectives while making business sense to the muddle of confusion in the transformation & compliance arena.

We are looking forward sharing essential information and news with you each month.

In this issue we will briefly look at the impact of Covid-19 on Skills Development, Employment Equity and TERS.

Grants are paid back to companies based on their skills levies paid to SARS. The President announced a 4-month holiday for companies on their Skills Levies, meaning that money received by the SETA’s will decline for implementation of skills interventions during the skills year. Some SETA’s are already making contingency plans regarding these reduced budget allocations and have communicated their plans with their stakeholders.

In the coming months we will unpack the effect of the SDL holiday on skills interventions implementation and BEE Scorecard.

In the time where the affected employee is on temporary suspension, they will receive a training allowance and attend training in new skills to prepare for the economic upturn.

The only compulsory contribution from the employer is to the UIF fund of the affected employee.

This is a valuable relief scheme that could assist a company to turn itself around without having to retrench their workforce.

For more information on the Training Layoff Scheme, please contact us or CTU with your queries.

The following services are offered by them :