SETAs, SDL and skills funding.
South Africa's 21 SETAs plan, fund and quality-assure sectoral skills development — recycling the Skills Development Levy back to employers through mandatory grants, discretionary grants and learnership funding. This is the full employer's guide: how the levy is calculated, what you must submit and when, how funding is accessed, and how to verify an accredited provider.
The SETA system at a glance.
21 SETAs, sector-aligned
Each SETA covers a Standard Industrial Classification — Services, MICT, MER, BANK, INS, W&R, TETA, ETDP, HW and 12 others.
Funded by 1% SDL
Employers with payroll above R500,000 pay 1% Skills Development Levy. SARS routes 80% to your SETA and 20% to the National Skills Fund.
Grants back to employers
20% of SDL returns as the Mandatory Grant (via WSP/ATR submission). Up to 49.5% is redistributed as Discretionary Grants for learnerships and priority skills.
Where your 1% Skills Development Levy goes.
- 20% Mandatory Grant — returned to compliant employers who submit an annual Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report.
- 49.5% Discretionary Grants — competitive funding for learnerships, bursaries, apprenticeships and priority skills projects.
- Balance — funds SETA operations, quality assurance and administration.
The NSF funds national priority skills programmes — including bursaries for scarce and critical skills, youth development, rural skills initiatives and cross-sector projects that fall outside individual SETA mandates.
What the levy actually costs — and returns.
SDL is 1% of total monthly remuneration as defined for PAYE, declared on the EMP201 and paid to SARS by the 7th of the following month. Employers whose total payroll is below R500,000 over the next 12 months are exempt. Here is how the money moves for three payroll sizes.
Illustrative figures based on the statutory 80/20 SDL split and the 20% mandatory / 49.5% discretionary allocation within the SETA share. Discretionary Grants are competitive and project-based — the pool shown is the scale of funding your levy contributes to, not a guaranteed entitlement.
The Workplace Skills Plan is the key that unlocks everything.
No WSP/ATR, no Mandatory Grant — and in practice, no Discretionary Grant either. Most SETAs will not fund an employer that is not a compliant submitter. The submission window closes 30 April for the SETA financial year running 1 April to 31 March.
What the WSP must contain
- • Company profile, SDL number and SETA classification
- • Employment profile by occupational category, race, gender and disability
- • Planned training beneficiaries for the coming year
- • Scarce and critical skills mapped to the Sector Skills Plan
- • Consultation evidence — training committee or organised labour sign-off
- • Registered Skills Development Facilitator details and authorisation
The annual compliance calendar
- Monthly, by the 7th — SDL declared and paid to SARS on the EMP201.
- Jan – Mar — appoint or confirm your SDF, compile training data, convene the training committee.
- By 30 April — submit WSP and ATR on the SETA's management system.
- Mid-year — Discretionary Grant windows typically open; project proposals and learner numbers submitted.
- Ongoing — learner registration, POE management and quarterly reporting on funded projects.
How to apply for SETA funding — the discretionary grant path
- 1. Be compliant. SDL up to date, WSP/ATR submitted, SDF registered.
- 2. Pick the intervention. Learnership, apprenticeship, bursary, skills programme or internship registered with your SETA.
- 3. Partner with an accredited provider. The qualification must sit inside the provider's accredited scope.
- 4. Build the proposal. Learner numbers, demographics, budget, host workplaces, and alignment to the Sector Skills Plan's scarce-skills list.
- 5. Submit in the window. Windows are short and dated per SETA — late submissions are not considered.
- 6. Contract and deliver. Sign the grant agreement, register learners, manage evidence and report to schedule.
What a learnership stipend involves.
The stipend is the monthly allowance paid to an unemployed learner for the duration of the learnership. It is set in the registered learnership agreement between the employer, the provider and the SETA — and where a Discretionary Grant funds the programme, the grant usually carries a defined stipend value per learner per month.
18.2 unemployed learners
Receive a monthly stipend for the term of the learnership. There is no employment contract beyond the learnership agreement, and the stipend is defined in that agreement rather than by a national tariff.
18.1 employed learners
Continue on their normal salary and conditions of employment. No separate stipend applies — the learnership runs alongside their existing role.
Tax and payroll treatment
Stipends are remuneration for tax purposes, but most unemployed-learner stipends fall below the annual tax threshold so no PAYE is deducted. Process through payroll and confirm treatment with your tax advisor.
Stipend cost is only one part of the picture — Section 12H learnership allowances offset a meaningful share of programme cost. See the full learnership cost and tax breakdown →
The full list of SETAs and what each covers.
Your SETA is determined by your primary Standard Industrial Classification code — normally the sector generating most of your revenue. SARS routes your SDL to that SETA automatically; you can confirm it on your SDL statement or with your payroll provider.
How to verify a SETA-accredited provider.
Accreditation is granted per SETA and per qualification — never company-wide and never permanent. A provider accredited for one qualification is not automatically accredited for another, and an expired scope invalidates the learner outcomes it was meant to certify.
Five things to ask for before you contract
- • The accreditation number and the SETA that issued it
- • The exact SAQA qualification IDs inside the accredited scope
- • The accreditation expiry or review date
- • Registered assessors and moderators for those specific qualifications
- • Confirmation of QCTO transition status for legacy qualifications
Then verify those details independently against the issuing SETA's accredited-provider directory. There is no single national list — each SETA publishes its own.
LearningWorks accredited qualifications
The formal SETA-accredited qualifications we deliver as learnerships.
Common questions about SETAs.
What is a SETA?
A SETA (Sector Education and Training Authority) is a statutory body established under the Skills Development Act to plan, fund and quality-assure skills development in a specific sector of the South African economy. There are 21 SETAs covering everything from services and IT to mining, banking and manufacturing.
How many SETAs are there in South Africa?
There are currently 21 SETAs, each aligned to a Standard Industrial Classification. Well-known SETAs include Services SETA (SSETA), MICT SETA, MERSETA, BANKSETA, INSETA, W&RSETA, TETA, ETDP SETA and HWSETA.
How do I apply for SETA learnerships?
SETAs do not employ learners directly. Learnerships are recruited by host employers and accredited training providers who have registered the learnership with the relevant SETA. To find opportunities, watch the vacancies pages of the 21 SETAs, monitor accredited training providers like LearningWorks, and follow career pages of large sector employers.
How do I apply for SETA funding?
SETA funding flows to registered employers and accredited training providers, not to individuals. Employers submit an annual Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR) to qualify for the Mandatory Grant (20% of SDL). Discretionary Grants (up to 49.5% of SDL) fund specific learnerships, bursaries and skills programmes and require project proposals aligned to the SETA's Sector Skills Plan.
What is the Skills Development Levy (SDL)?
The Skills Development Levy is a 1% payroll tax paid by employers with an annual payroll above R500,000. SARS collects the levy and distributes it: 80% to the relevant SETA (which returns it via grants and learnership funding) and 20% to the National Skills Fund. SDL is the primary funding mechanism for South Africa's skills development system.
How is SDL calculated?
SDL is 1% of your total monthly payroll (remuneration as defined for PAYE purposes), declared on the EMP201 and paid to SARS by the 7th of the following month. An employer with an R24 million annual payroll pays R240,000 in SDL per year — of which roughly R48,000 is recoverable as a Mandatory Grant and a far larger share is accessible through Discretionary Grant projects.
Who is exempt from paying SDL?
Employers whose total remuneration to all employees is below R500,000 over the next 12 months are exempt, as are most public service employers in the national or provincial sphere, certain public benefit organisations, and municipalities that hold a certificate of exemption.
How is SDL split by a SETA?
Of the 80% each SETA receives: 20% is returned as the Mandatory Grant to compliant employers, up to 49.5% is redistributed as Discretionary Grants for learnerships and priority skills, and the balance funds SETA operations, quality assurance and administration.
What is a Workplace Skills Plan (WSP)?
A Workplace Skills Plan is the annual submission in which an employer sets out its planned training for the coming year — beneficiaries by occupational category, race, gender and disability, aligned to scarce and critical skills in the SETA's Sector Skills Plan. It is submitted together with the Annual Training Report (ATR), which reports what was actually delivered in the prior year.
When is the WSP and ATR deadline?
The standard statutory deadline is 30 April each year, covering the SETA financial year that runs 1 April to 31 March. Miss it and the Mandatory Grant for that year is forfeited — and most SETAs will not consider a Discretionary Grant application from a non-submitting employer.
What is a Skills Development Facilitator (SDF)?
An SDF is the person appointed by an employer to compile and submit the WSP and ATR, liaise with the SETA, and advise on skills planning. The SDF must be registered with the relevant SETA. Employers can appoint an internal SDF or use an external SDF provided by an implementation partner.
How do I know which SETA my company belongs to?
SETA classification is determined by your company's primary Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code — usually the sector that generates most of your revenue. SARS assigns your SDL contributions to that SETA automatically. You can verify with your payroll provider or by checking your SDL statement.
What is a SETA learnership stipend?
A stipend is the monthly allowance paid to a learner on a learnership. For unemployed (18.2) learners, the stipend is negotiated between the host employer, the provider and the SETA, and is set out in the registered learnership agreement. Employed (18.1) learners continue to receive their normal salary rather than a stipend. Where a SETA funds the learnership through a Discretionary Grant, the grant typically covers a defined stipend value per learner per month.
Is a learnership stipend taxable?
Stipends paid to learners are treated as remuneration for tax purposes, but in practice most unemployed-learner stipends fall below the annual tax threshold, so no PAYE is deducted. Employers should still process stipends through payroll and confirm treatment with their tax advisor.
What is SETA accreditation?
SETA accreditation is the quality-assurance sign-off that authorises a training provider to deliver specific NQF-registered qualifications, skills programmes and learnerships in that SETA's scope. Only SETA-accredited providers can issue statements of results that lead to a recognised qualification.
How do I verify that a training provider is SETA accredited?
Ask for the provider's accreditation number, the SETA that issued it, the specific SAQA qualification IDs in its scope, and the accreditation expiry date — then confirm those details against the issuing SETA's accredited-provider directory. Accreditation is per SETA and per qualification: a provider accredited for one qualification is not automatically accredited for others.
Are SETAs government?
SETAs are statutory bodies — established by law and funded through SDL — but operate as independent entities under the oversight of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).
What is the QCTO and how does it affect SETA qualifications?
The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations is the national quality council for occupational qualifications. Legacy unit-standard-based qualifications are progressively being replaced by QCTO occupational qualifications, with SETAs acting as delegated quality partners. Employers planning multi-year programmes should confirm which qualification version their provider is accredited to deliver and until when.
How do I apply for MerSETA discretionary grants?
MerSETA (Manufacturing, Engineering & Related Services SETA) publishes an annual Discretionary Grant window — typically opening mid-year for the following financial year. Employers in the manufacturing, engineering, motor and metal sectors submit online applications via the MerSETA portal, including a project proposal, learner numbers, budget and alignment to MerSETA's Sector Skills Plan. Always confirm current dates with the SETA directly.
What is a SETA-accredited training provider?
A SETA-accredited training provider has been quality-assured by a specific SETA to deliver named NQF-registered qualifications, skills programmes or learnerships in that SETA's scope. Accreditation involves demonstrating trainer competence, learning materials, assessor and moderator capacity, quality management systems, and facilities. Only accredited providers can issue statements of results leading to a recognised qualification.
Where can I find a list of SETA-accredited training providers?
Each SETA publishes an accredited-provider directory on its own website — for example Services SETA, MerSETA, MICT SETA and BANKSETA all maintain public lists. There is no single national list; providers are accredited per SETA and per qualification.