WSP / ATR Submissions — Managed by SolveSA
Claim back the 20% of your levy most companies simply forfeit.
Every month you pay 1% of payroll to SARS as your Skills Development Levy. Submit a compliant Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report on time and 20% comes straight back. Miss the deadline and it’s gone. SolveSA appoints and manages your Skills Development Facilitator and coordinates the whole submission for you — delivered through vetted specialists, with us accountable for the result.
One deadline a year — 30 April. We make sure you never miss it.
20%
of your levy recovered
30 Apr
deadline met, every year
Turning a monthly SARS deduction into recovered cash, funded training and B-BBEE points
1%
of payroll paid as SDL
20%
refunded via the mandatory grant
49.5%
available as discretionary grants
25 pts
Skills Development on the scorecard
The challenge
You’re already paying the levy. Most of it, you never see again.
The Skills Development Levy comes off your payroll every month whether you engage with it or not. The mechanism to get a fifth of it back — and to unlock far more — is a compliant WSP and ATR, submitted to your SETA by 30 April. It’s a hard deadline, and it’s where most companies quietly leave money behind.
Cash left on the table
Skip the submission and you forfeit the 20% mandatory grant — a refund you’ve already funded through your monthly levy.
One unforgiving deadline
Submissions close on 30 April. Late, incomplete, or filed without an appointed SDF, and the grant for that year is simply lost.
Fiddly, technical paperwork
A WSP plans next year’s training; an ATR reports last year’s. Both must reconcile to payroll, SETA templates and your levy number — exactly.
Bigger funding missed
Without a submission you’re locked out of discretionary grants and you leave B-BBEE Skills Development points unclaimed.
Why SolveSA
We appoint and manage your Skills Development Facilitator — and own the whole submission.
SolveSA has spent more than 15 years helping South African businesses turn compliance obligations into real value. We don’t deliver the submission ourselves — we structure and coordinate a vetted, scrutinised network of specialist facilitators, managed by us. As part of the Alternative Prosperity Group, we know every SETA’s templates, timelines and quirks, and make sure your WSP and ATR reconcile cleanly to your levy and pass first time.
You stay focused on your business. We make sure the deadline is met and the grant lands.
15+ yrs
B-BBEE & skills-compliance experience
SDF
appointed and managed on your behalf
All SETAs
templates, portals and timelines handled
End-to-end
from levy analysis to grant recovery
How the grant works
Submit on time, and a fifth of your levy comes straight back.
Your Skills Development Levy is 1% of total payroll, paid to SARS each month. Of that, SETAs pay 20% back as the mandatory grant to any employer who appoints a Skills Development Facilitator and submits a compliant WSP and ATR by 30 April. A further 49.5% sits in a discretionary pot you can apply for.
The one thing to remember
The mandatory grant isn’t a bonus — it’s your own money coming back. The only thing standing between you and it is a compliant, on-time submission. Get that right and you also open the door to discretionary funding and B-BBEE Skills points.
Three things you unlock
One submission, three returns
A compliant WSP/ATR isn’t just a refund — it’s the key that unlocks the rest of the skills-funding system and feeds your scorecard.
20%
Mandatory grant recovered
Trigger — Compliant WSP + ATR by 30 April
Requires — An appointed Skills Development Facilitator
49.5%
Discretionary funding access
Funds — Learnerships, bursaries & PIVOTAL programmes
Requires — A submission on record to apply
B-BBEE
Skills Development points
Feeds — The 20 + 5 bonus point scorecard element
Also — Supports Management & Control reporting
Figures reflect the split SETAs apply in practice: 20% mandatory grant, 49.5% discretionary grant, with the balance retained for SETA administration and the National Skills Fund. SolveSA coordinates the appointment, submission and reconciliation for you — delivered through vetted specialists.
The solution
SolveSA orchestrates your entire WSP/ATR cycle — end to end.
From appointing your facilitator to reconciling the grant into your account, we coordinate every step of the annual submission through vetted specialists — and make sure it works as hard as it can across grants, training and your scorecard.
SDF appointment & SETA liaison
We appoint a vetted Skills Development Facilitator and manage all correspondence with the relevant SETA on your behalf.
Workplace Skills Plan
A training-needs analysis and forward WSP that reflects your real business goals — compiled by our vetted specialists to the SETA template and your levy number, quality-assured by us.
Annual Training Report
A complete, reconciled ATR of the training you actually delivered — compiled through our specialists and checked by us. It’s the evidence the mandatory grant depends on.
Mandatory grant recovery
We track the submission through to payment and reconcile the 20% grant back against your levy — so you can see the cash returned.
Discretionary grant optimisation
We identify and position learnerships, bursaries and PIVOTAL programmes so you can access the larger discretionary funding pool.
B-BBEE & compliance alignment
Your skills spend is surfaced where it earns Skills Development points, and the submission supports your Management & Control reporting.
The same submission that recovers your grant also strengthens your B-BBEE Skills Development score and feeds your Employment Equity & Management & Control reporting — one process, working across your whole scorecard.
How it works
The SolveSA WSP/ATR Pathway
A clear, five-step route from “are we even claiming this?” to recovered cash and a scorecard that reflects it — with SolveSA carrying the load at every step.
1
Register & appoint SDF
We confirm your SETA and levy number, and appoint a vetted Skills Development Facilitator to act for you.
2
Training-needs analysis
We coordinate a Workplace Skills Plan, built with our specialists, that reflects genuine business and transformation goals.
3
Compile the ATR
We oversee the gathering and reconciliation of the prior year’s training into a complete Annual Training Report.
4
Submit before 30 April
Your compliant WSP/ATR is filed through the SETA portal well ahead of the deadline — managed by us throughout.
5
Recover & report
We track the mandatory grant to payment, and surface the spend for your B-BBEE and EE reporting.
Who must submit
If you pay the levy, this money is yours to claim.
Whether you have to submit — and how much you can recover — comes down to your payroll and your levy. Here’s the shape of it; we’ll confirm your exact position in minutes.
Who pays
Levy-paying employers
Payroll > R500,000 p.a.
Employers with an annual payroll above R500,000 must register for and pay the Skills Development Levy.
How much
The levy
1% of payroll
The SDL is 1% of your total monthly payroll, paid to SARS along with PAYE and UIF.
What’s back
The mandatory grant
20% refundable
20% of your levy is refundable each year on a compliant, on-time WSP/ATR submission via an appointed SDF.
By when
The deadline
30 April, annually
Submissions must reach your SETA by 30 April. Miss it and that year’s mandatory grant is forfeited.
Not sure of your SETA, levy number, or whether you’re claiming what you’re owed? We’ll check it for you →
Live oversight
Full visibility, none of the workload.
You always know exactly where your submission stands — levy paid, grant recovered, deadline status and compliance — without managing any of it. Illustrative views of the oversight SolveSA gives you.
Grant dashboard
SDL & Grant Dashboard — submission year 2026/27
SDL paid (year)
R612k
Mandatory grant due
R122k (20%)
Grant recovered
R92k
Days to deadline
38 days
Grant recovered against entitlement, quarter by quarter: Q1 R28k, Q2 R52k, Q3 R74k, Q4 R92k, against R122k due — 75% of the grant recovered.
Submission tracker
| Submission requirement | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SDL registration & levy number | Confirmed with SARS & SETA | Complete |
| Skills Development Facilitator appointed | Vetted SDF appointed & managed by SolveSA | Complete |
| Workplace Skills Plan (next year) | Training-needs analysis finalised | Complete |
| Annual Training Report (prior year) | Reconciled to payroll & levy | In review |
| PIVOTAL plan & report | Learnership & bursary programmes captured | Tracking |
| SETA portal submission | Filed ahead of 30 April deadline | Scheduled |
| Mandatory grant reconciliation | Matched to levy on payment | Pending |
Skills & B-BBEE value
What the submission returns
R122k
mandatory grant entitlement
R303k
discretionary pool accessible
48
employees on the training plan
12
learnership seats positioned
25 pts
Skills element addressable
1
clean EE & M&C data source
A single compliant submission that recovers cash, opens discretionary funding, and feeds both your B-BBEE Skills Development score and Employment Equity reporting. Figures shown are illustrative of a sample employer.
Compliance & value reporting
Audit-ready with the SETA. Board-ready on the value it returns.
The mandatory grant is assessed on your submission — not on good intentions. SolveSA keeps the evidence trail clean throughout the year, and shows you exactly what the submission is worth in cash, funding and scorecard terms.
Submission & compliance
- Skills Development Facilitator appointed and registered
- WSP and ATR built to the correct SETA templates
- Reports reconciled to payroll and your levy number
- Submitted through the SETA portal before 30 April
- Mandatory grant tracked to payment and reconciled
Value & scorecard reporting
- Cash recovered versus levy paid, quarter by quarter
- Discretionary funding opportunities identified and positioned
- Skills spend surfaced for B-BBEE Skills Development points
- Workforce & training data ready for Employment Equity reporting
- A board-ready view of return on a levy you already pay
Data & trust
Your payroll and workforce data, handled responsibly.
A WSP/ATR submission means working with your payroll figures and employee training records. SolveSA treats that data with the same care we bring to your compliance.
POPIA-aligned
Payroll and employee data managed in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act.
Controlled access
Role-based access to submission records — the right people see the right information, and no more.
Full audit trail
Every plan, report and submission time-stamped and retained — ready for SETA or verification review on demand.
Single accountable partner
One point of ownership for the whole submission — SolveSA stands behind every recommendation we make.
The outcome
From a levy you write off to value you can bank.
Handling WSP/ATR alone
- 20% of your levy forfeited, year after year
- Scrambling against the 30 April deadline — or missing it
- No appointed SDF, no clear line to the SETA
- Locked out of discretionary learnership funding
- Skills spend never surfaced for B-BBEE points
With SolveSA
- The full 20% mandatory grant recovered
- Submission filed on time, every year, without fail
- A vetted SDF appointed and managed by SolveSA
- Discretionary funding identified and positioned
- Skills spend feeding your scorecard and EE reporting
Stop forfeiting a fifth of your levy.
Book a demo to see how SolveSA manages your WSP/ATR submission end to end — or request a tailored proposal for your entity. We’ll start by checking your levy, SETA and what you should be recovering, no obligation.
Mike Manson — mike@solvesa.net