InSETA

Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority

The Insurance SETA (INSETA) is one of a handful of official education and training and authorities in South Africa that will essentially remain the same when the existing SETA landscape changes in March 2011.

This means that the INSETA vision to promote and enable quality skills development through funding education and training in South Africa to meet the “national skills agenda” will remain the same. It will also continue to contribute to transformation in the sector, which it has pledged to do.

In general this is what all SETAs are expected to do, basically working out and implementing sector skills plans relating specifically to the sector they are tasked with handling. They are also expected to promote learnerships and to hand out funds within the sector, including discretionary grants and various bursaries.

This is core to the Government’s plan to develop and improve the skills of the South African workforce overall.

Sub-sectors represented by the INSETA

The INSETA represents all sub-sectors within the insurance industry, namely:

• short-term insurance,
• life insurance,
• insurance and pension funding,
• risk management,
• unit trusts,
• administration of health care benefits,
• funeral insurance,
• reinsurance,
• pension funding, and
• activities that are auxiliary to financial intermediation.

The INSETA and the insurance industry in South Africa

There is absolutely no doubt that the insurance sector of the South African economy is a major player that is growing, developing and rapidly evolving. However the insurance industry is a diverse industry with a very wide range of employers who operate different sized businesses. For example some are very small, employing only about ten people, while others are huge, employing more than 12 000 people at any one time. However, the actual workforce – who are the people who are attracted to the insurance workplace experience – are mainly skilled and highly skilled employees. This in itself presents a particular challenge.

Of course to be able to fulfil its vision, the SETA requires funding, much of which comes from levies paid by employers operating within this sector. By 2010, ten years after the SETA was launched, more than 4000 employers within the insurance sector had registered with the South African Revenue Services (SARS) as levy payers. This brings in a substantial amount of funding.

Like all SETAs, the INSETA is registered as a public entity and it therefore complies strictly with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act. It has a Council comprising business, labour and state representation that governs its affairs.

Accreditation of the INSETA

INSQA, which is the INSETA’s ETQA (education and training qualifications authority) is accredited by the South African Qualifications Framework (SAQA) as an official education and training authority.

This means that the Insurance SETA can focus on upgrading education and training facilities within the industry so that anyone entering the insurance industry or wanting to further themselves within in it, can do so with their help or advice. Anyone wishing to do a short course on insurance, or perhaps a management course to improve their level of employment, or in fact any college courses, or even online courses, should ensure that these are accredited by the INSETA.

Outsourcing of functions by the INSETA

Having identified the need to concentrate on its core functions, the Insurance SETA in South Africa has outsourced non-core functions to reputable professionals. These include financial and IT administration which the SETA has outsourced to Deloitte, and the project management of surplus funds and discretionary grants which it has outsourced to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Where to find the INSETA

The Insurance SETA is located in Braamfontein near the centre of Johannesburg in Gauteng .

Telephone:  (011) 544-2000

Fax:  (011) 484-0862

Email:  laureld@inseta.org.za

Website:  Information