LEARNERSHIPS

NEED ASSISTANCE IN RECRUITING LEARNERS?

Do you need assistance in recruiting Learners? The Department of Labour has labour centres located in all of the provinces and they will assist you in recruiting learners at no cost! Interested learners register with the Labour Centres, all you need to do is give them your learner requirements and then they will match registered learners with your requirements.

Please visit to download a list of the labour centres per province and per region.

It’s that easy!

NEW INITIATIVE BY DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR

ESDLES – EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT LEAD EMPLOYERS

The Department of Labour has embarked upon a one-year pilot initiative to assist employers & SETAs in implementing Learnerships. ESDLES will have a strong focus on assisting Small, Medium & Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) to participate in Learnerships. ESDLES have been established in all of the provinces and in some instances for specific SETAs.

For more information about ESDLES please visit the Department of Labour’s website at

COSTINGS OF LEARNERSHIPS FOR EMPLOYERS

The cost of Learnerships for employers comprises of two components i.e. direct costs and indirect costs.

Let’s use the example of John Smith a call centre agent who works for an insurance company.

Direct costs:

Recovery of Training Costs: John may receive training either from an external training provider (i.e. ABC Call Centre Training) or an internal training provider within his company. Either way the training needs to be sourced and paid for.

Learner Allowances: this applies only to unemployed learners and not employed learners already earning a salary. The minimum allowance that may be paid to learners is stipulated by the Minister of Labour and regulated in the form of the Sectoral Determination: Learnerships document (which is available on the website). The minimum is dependent on both the level of the Learnership embarked upon and the credit value that it carries. This information is contained in the INSETA Learnerships Funding Policy (which is available on the website). However employers can, at their discretion, pay more than the minimum amount stipulated.

On-the-job assessments: Upon entering into a Learnership Agreement it is the duty of the employer to ensure that on-the-job assessment takes place or cause it to happen! This can be done by either using an external assessor who offers this service or internally by an assessor employed within the organisation.

Recruitment and Selection costs: When sourcing learners, organisations may incur recruitment and selection costs. However in order to reduce these costs, the Department of Labour has initiated two initiatives:

  • Working through the Labour Centres, you provide them with a list of your requirements, they then match these against registered learners and find suitable candidates (click on for a full list of the centres
  • Working through ESDLE’s (click on for more information)

Indirect Costs:

The indirect costs are entirely dependent upon the organisation and their organisational structure.