This is the TrainHRDF weekly roundup of HRD Corp and HRDF developments that Malaysian HR Managers and L&D Heads should track for the week ending 8 May 2026. The lead story is operational, not political: the way you submit claims has changed.
What's new this week
- HRD Corp completes its operational reset and tightens claim approvals. Following coverage by The Star and Free Malaysia Today on 19–20 April, HRD Corp confirmed that its multi-month restructuring is complete and that new standard operating procedures are now in force. Training programmes can only proceed after prior approval, with a defined lead time and implementation window — the previous practice of submitting claims after training, sometimes on the same day, has ended. HRD Corp says enforcement teams will verify training activities on the ground.
- Datuk Rusli Jaafar takes over as HRD Corp chairman. The Star, Free Malaysia Today, BERNAMA and Business Today reported on 15 April that the former Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia (SKM) chief executive was appointed chairman effective 1 April 2026, bringing 32 years of public-sector experience into the role.
- Board reconstituted with five new directors. The Edge Malaysia and Free Malaysia Today reported in late February that HRD Corp appointed five new board members, including Mydin's managing director, as part of the institutional strengthening effort tied to the ongoing internal investigations.
- MDEC AI Skills Training cycle closes. MDEC's HRD Corp-claimable AI Skills Training programme, delivered under the Skim Bantuan Latihan (SBL) scheme since August 2025, has now reached the end of its scheduled run in April 2026 according to MDEC's own programme page — closing one of the larger structured AI training pipelines for Malaysian employers in this cycle.
Why it matters for your training claims
The prior-approval shift is the most operationally consequential change for any HR or L&D function this year. Many Malaysian employers — especially SMEs running ad-hoc cohorts — have historically scoped a programme, run it, and filed the claim retrospectively. Under the new SOP, that path no longer exists. If you start a session before HRD Corp has approved it, you cannot claim against your levy for that session.
Practically, this means your annual training calendar now has a new dependency: HRD Corp's review queue. Lead times need to be built into every cohort plan, registered course codes need to be confirmed earlier, and named trainers need to be locked in before the application goes in rather than after. Expect more queries from reviewers, and more on-site verification visits while enforcement teams ramp up.
The governance changes — new chairman, new board, ongoing investigations — sit behind this shift in posture. The signal from HRD Corp's leadership is that the levy will be administered with tighter controls and more scrutiny, not less. Plan your 2026 H2 cohorts on that assumption.
What to do next
- Review your remaining 2026 training calendar and rebuild every cohort timeline to start after a confirmed HRD Corp approval, not before. Treat any pre-approval delivery as unclaimable.
- Re-confirm that each programme's course code, scheme (SBL-Khas in most cases), and named trainer are still active on the HRD Corp register before you submit a fresh application.
- Open a conversation with your finance team about cash-flow timing — programmes that previously cleared claims within weeks may now sit in review longer while enforcement procedures bed in.
Need a second pair of eyes on a 2026 cohort plan that is still scoped under the old approval flow? Request a TrainHRDF proposal and we will return a revised application timeline, indicative claim amount, and a registered course code within one working day.
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