DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

PROGRESS REPORT ON MIGRATION OF ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING (AET) SECTOR TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING (DHET)

Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training 05 August 2015

PROGRESS REPORT ON MIGRATION OF ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING (AET)

SECTOR TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on

Higher Education and Training

05 August 2015

Presentation Outline

1. Overview of Transferred AET Posts

2. Status of Transferred Posts

3. Status of Appointments into DHET

4. AET Claims Received and Paid

5. Progress Update on Queries as at 31 July 2015

6. Interventions by DHET to Resolve Challenges

7. Future Plans to Improve Challenges on Salaries

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Adult Education and Training (AET) posts transferred to DHET

Number

Total AET posts transferred from Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) - staff working in AET Centres

18 938

Total AET posts transferred from PEDs: staff working in offices

352

Total AET Posts Transferred to DHET Effective 1 April 2015

19 290

Status of Transferred AET Posts

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Status of Appointments into DHET

Province Number of Staff Affected Nature of Challenges Experienced

Eastern Cape3 979 Programme 5 and 6

Full time on PERSAL

• System Change Control (SCC) not performed by the PED led to appointment of staff onto DHET PERSAL on 1 June 2015 instead of 1 April 2015.

Free State50

Full-time on PERSAL

• The officials had not been appointed by the PED on time for the programmatical transfer. DHET had to appoint them individually and manually.

Gauteng0

Full-time on PERSAL and per hour on contract - no claims

• None

Kwa-Zulu Natal± 6 500

Monthly claims: It took KZN up to 8 months to pay claims

• Delays in submitting staff documentation by the PED led to delays in uploading appointments on PERSAL and processing payment of claims.

Limpopo2 077

Part-time appointments

• The 37% in lieu of benefits was not instated by the PED- DHET implemented in June 2015. About 70 appointments were not loaded by the PED before the programmatical transfer. DHET had to upload manually.

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Status of Appointments into DHET

Province Number of Staff Affected Nature of Challenges Experienced

Mpumalanga50

Part time on PERSAL

• The PED had not appointed staff at the time of the programmatical transfer. DHET had to manually load and pay officials.

North West1 500

Fixed stipend per month

• Extra ordinary appointments could not be transferred programmatically on the system. DHET had to manually appoint officials.

Northern Cape250

Fixed stipend per month

• Extra ordinary appointments could not be transferred programmatically on the system. DHET had to manually appoint officials.

Western Cape

496Monthly claims

500Full-time on PERSAL

• The bulk of AET educators were not paid through PERSAL. The PED transferred funds to AET Centres which appointed and paid educators. DHET had to make these appointments on PERSAL for the first time.

• The PED used a combination of full-time, stipend and claims system.

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Status of AET Claims Received and Paid

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ProvinceApril 2015 May 2015 June 2015

Received Paid Received Paid Received Paid

Eastern Cape 0 0 0 0 AI AI

Free State AI AI AI AI AI AI

Gauteng AI AI AI AI AI AI

KwaZulu-Natal6 523 Claims

5 7966 550

Claims 5 690

± 6 500Claims

0

Limpopo AI AI AI AI AI AI

Mpumalanga AI AI AI AI AI AI

Northern Cape248

Stipends248 AI AI AI AI

North-West1 340

Stipends1 340 AI AI AI AI

Western Cape± 400 Claims

370± 400 Claims

370± 400 Claims

370

AI = Automatic Interface: payments processed automatically through PERSAL

Status of Queries as at 31 July 2015

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Queries Received Number

Total number of queries received 269

Total number of Human Resource Administration queries received 216

Total number of salary related queries 139

Total number of salary related queries resolved 124

Total number of salary related queries in progress 15

Percentage of salary related queries resolved 89%

Percentage of salary queries outstanding 11%

Percentage of salary queries in relation to the total number of AET employees 0,7%

Percentage of claims compared to the total number of Educators in the sector 35%

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HR queries Number of Cases Percentage

Human Resources Administration (salaries and appointments)

216 80%

Labour Relations 8 3%

Organisational Development 9 3%

Total 233 86%

Overview of HR Related Queries

• From the overall 86% of human resources queries, most are related to Human Resource Administration, in particular salary payments (i.e. 64% of Human Resource Administration are salary related queries).

• Labour Relations queries include disputes related to conditions of service and queries from Limpopo SADTU, SAAEU and North-West Arbitration Award.

• Organisational development queries include mostly conditions of service and pay progression.

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Overview of Queries per Sub-Project

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Breakdown of 80% HRA Queries as at 31 July 2015

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HR: Admin Queries Number of Queries Percentage

Salary related queries 139 64%

Conditions of Service 7 3

Medical Aid 4 2

Pension Funds 2 1

Appointments 23 11

Salary Levels 2 1

Post Levels 3 1

Migration 5 2

Provident Funds 2 1

Benefits 4 2

Subsidies 2 1

Tariffs 2 1

Rates 2 1

Other 9 4

Leave 2 1

Claims 3 1

Bonus 5 3

Total 216 100%

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Overview of HRA Queries Mostly Received

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Medium-term salary queries 9

Short-term salary queries 130

Total number of queries 139

Overview of Short-Term vs Medium-Term Salary Queries

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Overview of Salary Related Queries Per Province

Province Number of queries received

KwaZulu-Natal 89

Limpopo 21

North-West 11

Free State 7

Western Cape 6

Mpumalanga 5

Total 139

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CET Salary Challenges in KwaZulu-Natal

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CET Salary Challenges in Limpopo

The PED unilaterally changed the conditions of service to be more favourable without informing the Minister and/or taking into account the financial implications.

On 1 March 2015, the PED issued a circular increasing working hours of AET Educators and Centre Managers which has financial implications as the budget to be transferred was already determined by National Treasury. This increase in working hours is not funded.

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Number of Limpopo Lecturers paid more as at June 2015 compared to July 2014

HR QueriesNumber of Limpopo Lecturers Paid More

Amount of Salaries Paid ‘More’

Contract AET Educators 3 R12 290.53

Part-time AET Educators 77 R67 373.95

Total per month 80 R79 664.48

Total per annum R955 973.76

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Number of Limpopo lecturers paid less as at June 2015 compared to July 2014

HR QueriesNumber of Limpopo Lecturers Paid Less

Amount of Salaries Paid ‘Less’

Part-time AET Educators 2 077 -R5 528 781.56

Total per month 2 077-R5 528 781.56

Total per annum -R66 345 378.72

In July 2014, AET educators were paid using the claim system and in August 2014, the PED converted this to a part-time system (i.e. fixed notch). Fixed notch was transferred to DHET ‘as is’ from 1 April 2015.

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Emerging Complexities Relating to Salary Queries of Limpopo

• Appointment letters and contracts of employment issued by the PED did not state the salary to be paid

• Highly differentiated salary scales

• Change of payment method by the PED from the claim system to part-time appointments in July 2014 led to lower salaries

• Committing to an increase in number of hours by the PED on 1 March 2015 thus imposing liabilities on DHET

• Inadequate disclosure of liabilities

• Salaries not paid according to the correct REQV level by the PED

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AET Salary Challenges in the Eastern Cape

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AET Salary Challenges in the Western Cape

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AET Salary Challenges in the Free State and Mpumalanga

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AET Salary Challenges in North-West

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Interventions Undertaken to Resolve Challenges Relating to Payment of CET Claims

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Interventions undertaken Description

Working overtime

• The Directorate: HRA worked overtime to ensure capturing of appointment of AET Educators on PERSAL.

• The Directorate: Financial Services worked overtime to ensure that KZN claims for April and May 2015 were paid.

Introducing bulk payments• In consultation with National Treasury, bulk payment processes were

introduced for processing AET claims.

Appointment of interns • Appointed interns in the unit to assist with the work load.

Appointment of additional staff • Commenced with interviews for the appointment of additional staff.

Introduction of claims procedure• A claim procedure document has been prepared and distributed to

eliminate queries related to payment of claims.

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Future Plans to Make Payment Method More Efficient

Interventions undertaken Description

Decentralising data capturing for bulk uploads at the District level

• Roll-out the capturing of data on excel spreadsheet for bulk upload to District offices where automatic interface is not taking place.

Filling of additional advertised posts

• Filling of newly created posts to manage the workload.

Review of the claims payment method

• Exploring the most efficient and sustainable payment method for AET Educators who are still using the claim system.

Investigations into the underlying causes of the salary queries

• Investigations into the salary queries relating to under payment of salaries in Limpopo is underway.

• Investigation into queries related to under payment of claims, the use of incorrect tariffs and turnaround times for payment of claims for KwaZulu-Natal will be undertaken.

Harmonising the conditions of service

• The process of standardising the conditions of service is underway.• The cost implications of standardising conditions of service are being

calculated for Minister’s consideration and processing.

Thank You