HRDC Offers 25% Training Reimbursements
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday August 31, 2020 12:50
HRDC, which coordinates the development of Botswana`s human resources, has considered challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and put in place measures to ensure continuity in training during the period.
Therefore, funds have been made available from the HRDF reserves to assist levy payers during the suspension of the training levy payments.
“Levy payers are eligible to claim training reimbursements for up to 25% of their 2019/2020 financial year contributions while reimbursement claims for non-levy payers will follow guidelines that have been previously published,” read a statement from HRDC.
According to HRDC’s 2018/2019 annual report, the levy collection amounted to P366 million compared to P300 million reported in the previous year. On the other hand, the Fund realised a surplus of P170 million as compared to a surplus of P59 million previously.
“The surplus grew as a result of an anomaly noted and normalised by Botswana Unified Revenue Service regarding previous levies of P29 million. In addition there was a reduction of administration fees by P30 million as BQA administration fees were discontinued,” HRDC added.
The level of uptake as measured by the number of companies claiming from the Fund relative to the total number of levy payers was at 23% against an annual target of 21%. The rate of utilisation has steadily increased from 15% in 2017 to 23% in 2018.
HRDC is mandated to ensure that entities up skill their employees to enhance productivity in the workplace. The parastatal undertook an impact study to evaluate the effectiveness of the HRDF with a view to establishing whether the intended objectives were achieved.
The objectives of the Fund amongst other were to motivate enterprises to train their staff, increase skills base at the workplaces, create new opportunities in the training market and to support the goal of cost sharing in skills development in Botswana. It is anticipated that the study will make recommendations towards improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the fund.
The Fund utilisation rate as measured by the total value of claims paid as a percentage of the total levy collected for the same period stood at 68%. Since the inception of the Fund, the emphasis was on capacitating employers particularly the levy payers on training their employees and submitting claims for reimbursement from the fund.
According to HRDC it has noticed the low uptake of the Fund by non-levy payers. There are various reasons cited that are associated with the low uptake with the main one noted as cash-flow problems. They have also noted exorbitant pricing of programmes by training providers and there has been non-compliance with the accreditation regulations as reported by Botswana Qualifications Authority.