How to Maximise Your B-BBEE Skills Development Score with QCTO Training

Why Skills Development Is One of the Most Valuable B-BBEE Elements

The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) scorecard contains several elements, each contributing to an organisation's overall B-BBEE level. Among these, Skills Development is one of the most directly actionable — it rewards companies for investing in the development of their people. Yet many businesses — particularly medium-sized companies — consistently under-perform on this element, either because they don't understand what qualifies, or because they haven't structured their training spend strategically.

With a maximum contribution of 20 points under the Generic Scorecard (or up to 25 points if priority element thresholds are met), Skills Development can meaningfully shift your overall B-BBEE level. In some cases, maximising this single element can move a company from Level 5 to Level 4 — a distinction that can affect tender eligibility and supply chain relationships.

The Skills Development Scorecard Element: What Gets Measured

Under the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice (as amended), the Skills Development element is assessed across several sub-measures:

Sub-Measure	Points Available	Benchmark
Skills Development Expenditure on black employees	8	6% of leviable amount
Skills Dev Expenditure on black employees with disabilities	4	0.3% of leviable amount
Number of black employees participating in learnerships / apprenticeships / internships	6	2.5% of headcount
Number of unemployed black people in learnerships / apprenticeships / internships	4	2.5% of headcount
Bonus: absorption of learnership participants into employment	5 (bonus)	100% absorption rate

Note: The leviable amount is broadly your total payroll. The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is set at 1% of your total payroll for companies with a payroll above R500,000 per annum.

How QCTO Training Qualifies for B-BBEE Spend

Not all training spend counts equally for B-BBEE purposes. To qualify as Skills Development Expenditure (SDE), training must be on an accredited programme offered by an accredited training provider. QCTO Occupational Certificates — delivered through an accredited provider like FPT Academy — qualify in full as SDE.

Furthermore, learnerships (formal programmes combining structured learning with workplace experience, registered with a SETA under a three-party learnership agreement) attract the most favourable treatment under the B-BBEE Codes. Enrolling employees — and especially unemployed individuals — in QCTO-registered learnerships generates points under both the expenditure measures and the learnership participation measures simultaneously.

SDL Levy Spend and Priority Spend

The SDL levy itself (1% of payroll) is paid to SARS monthly and channelled to the relevant SETA. Spending your company's training budget on SETA-accredited QCTO programmes ensures that your investment overlaps with your SDL obligations. If you spend 6% or more of your leviable amount on qualifying SDE directed at black employees, you achieve the full 8 points on that sub-measure.

Priority spend refers to training directed at black employees at NQF Levels 1 to 6 — the levels covered by most QCTO Occupational Certificates. Spending in this band attracts the most favourable scoring under the B-BBEE framework, which is another reason why QCTO learnerships at NQF Levels 2 through 5 are particularly valuable for employers seeking to optimise their score.

Bonus Points: The Absorption Mechanism

One of the most underutilised components of the Skills Development element is the bonus points available for absorbing learners into permanent employment after completing a learnership. If your company enrols unemployed learners in a QCTO learnership and then employs them permanently, you can earn up to 5 bonus points on the scorecard — points that sit outside the normal 20-point ceiling.

This is significant because bonus points can compensate for under-performance on other elements, or push a borderline company firmly into a higher B-BBEE level. FPT Academy can structure learnership agreements specifically designed to qualify for the absorption bonus.

Practical Steps to Maximise Your Score

• Calculate your leviable amount and determine what 6% looks like in rand terms
• Identify which QCTO programmes align with your workforce's actual job roles
• Structure at least some of your training through formal learnership agreements for the dual benefit of expenditure and participation points
• Ensure your training provider is accredited — FPT Academy is accredited with QCTO, Services SETA, W&RSETA, and ETDP SETA
• Document everything — invoices, learner agreements, attendance registers, and completion certificates are all required for your B-BBEE verification audit
• Plan learner absorption ahead of time to qualify for the bonus points