Learnerships can be paid or unpaid, depending on the policies of the organization offering the program. Some learnerships offer learners a stipend or salary while they are undergoing the training, while others do not. At Advanced Assessment and Training, their principles of learnership goes as follows:
- For each year that a learner is registered for a learnership linked to the employer’s trade, the employer claims an allowance of R30 000 for that learnership. This allowance is based on a 12 months periods, and full periods of a month, so if a learnership starts half way through the employer’s year of assessment, half of the allowance is claimed by the employer in the first year and half in the second.
- If the learner leaves during the year, there is no recoupment. The R30 000 is merely apportioned for the part of the year, so that if the learner leaves after 4 months, the employer only claims 4/12 of the allowance, i.e. R10 000. These must be full months, so if the learner leaves after 3 and a half months, the allowance must be claimed for 3 months, i.e. 3/12 X R30 000 = R7 500.
- Similarly, if a learnership spans 3 and half months in the first year of assessment and 8 and a half months in the second year of assessment of a single employer, the employer claims commencement allowance of R7 500 in the first year and R20 000 in the second year.
- If the learner goes to another employer while he is still doing his learnership and the learnership is carried on, linked to that employer’s trade, the new employer claims the learnership for the rest of the year, i.e. 8/12 X R30 000 = R20 000. The new employer will also claim the full completion allowance, even if the learner was not employed by that employer in the earlier years or months of the learnership.
- If a learner fails his or her learnership and registers for a new learnership, section 12H will not apply to the new learnership if it contains the same education and training component of the learnership that the person failed.
- These in addition to learnership discretionary grants, is a substantial amount that is made available to subsidise the training of a learner on a learnership.
There are also two levels of allowance allocation:
- R30 000 commencement and completion allowances for learnerships and apprenticeships;
- R50 000 commencement and completion allowances for learners with disabilities.
During the learnership, learners will be required to complete assignments, tasks and practical tests and projects. They will be formally assessed in the classroom and workplace. If all these assignments are completed successfully, they will be awarded an NQF-registered qualification, which is recognised nationally. They will receive a certificate stating the qualification and the area of skill development.