THE HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT FUND (HRDF) ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES

The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) was established in October 2008 as the Vocational Training Fund (VTF). The Fund is levy based and established to finance work - based training, with Levy Payers benefiting through reimbursement of training costs.

The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) was established in October 2008 as the then Vocational Training Fund (VTF), popularly known as the Fund. It was primarily established for the purposes of financing work - based training.  All Work – Places that have a turnover of the current Value Added Tax (VAT) threshold P1 000.000.00, automatically contribute towards this Training Fund.

This therefore means that Levy Payers who train their employees, through approved Work Skills Training Plans (WSTPs) automatically benefit by getting their training costs reimbursed. It is therefore, imperative for all Work – Places to ensure they contact HRDC prior to embarking on training and submit the plans accordingly.

The following is a short report that covers the achievements, challenges and future developments of the Training Fund aimed at improving its operations.

1)    ACHIEVEMENTS

 During the year, the Fund embarked on several initiatives with key ones including;

a. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HRDF CONTACT CENTRE

 A Contact Centre was established with the aim to ensure good customer service and improved Fund utilisation. Its establishment has brought about commendable achievements which include the following;

·       Strengthened Internal Controls - Clarity between various roles was achieved further safeguarding the Fund.

·       Turn – Around times -the Contact Centre has enabled the organisation to improve turnaround from six (6) months to four (4) weeks.

·       Process Review There is need to continuously analyse and refine processes to ensure that business is effectively conducted for successful attainment of the intended long-term goals. HRDF therefore, continues to embrace the Kaizen approach of continuous improvement that has enabled the Fund to attain incremental changes ultimately resulting in improved customer service.

·       Fraud Risk    Management - Introduction of stringent measures to reduce fraud risks such as inclusion of bank payment proof as one of the key requirements has proven to be fruitful.

·       Reduced Pending Claims   - Long outstanding claims brought forward from the previous years were reduced from 2170 as at January 2017 to 587 as of December 2017. The Fund continues to work closely with levy payers to resolve the remaining claims.

 

 

Table Two: Comparison on Outstanding claims before Contact Centre and to 31st December 2017

 

NO OF CLAIMS AS AT 01 JANUARY 2017

NO OF LONG OUTSTANDING CLAIMS AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2017

No Funds/Awaiting funds accumulation

234

513

Awaiting missing information

1055

0

Awaiting approval/rejection

72

28

Data captured

809

46

TOTAL

2170

587

 

b. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

The Funding Department in collaboration with the Work - Place Learning Unit have been engaged in Work - Place support visits targeting Levy Payers who are not utilising the Fund.

 During the visits, it was observed that most of the companies did not understand the requirements of the Fund. This therefore, necessitated the two departments to ensure that awareness activities are implemented to educate, strengthen monitoring and follow up companies that are not utilising the fund.

2)    CHALLENGES FACING THE FUND

HRDF just like any other business entity experiences challenges which include among others:

a) Low uptake of the Fund b) Limited scope of training c) Incomplete submissions by Levy Payers d) High training costs.

3) FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

HRDC is currently developing various mitigation measures intended to address the challenges mentioned above, some of which are;

a) Reviewing of Regulations and Fund Order

b) Carrying out a Fund Impact Assessment Study

c) Submission of Annual Training Plans by Work - Places

d) Branding of the Contact Centre

 e) Departmental Staff continuous capacity development.

News Date: 
Friday, December 15, 2017