This is the Monday HRDF news roundup for the week starting 29 June 2026, covering HRD Corp announcements, scheme reminders, and claimable-training signals from the past week. The headline item this cycle is the confirmed schedule for National Training Week.
What's new
- National Training Week 2026 confirmed for 20-26 July. HRD Corp's flagship annual event will run from 20 to 26 July 2026, offering thousands of free courses across data analytics, AI, Power BI, Excel, SQL, and Python. Registration is through the official portal at nationaltrainingweek.gov.my, slots are first-come-first-served, and participants receive an HRD Corp e-certificate on completion. Source: National Training Week portal and CorporateTrainingMY.
- NTW courses do not deduct from your levy balance. Participation is open to companies of all sizes with no levy balance required, and NTW courses are free and separate from your regular HRDF training entitlement. They sit on top of your normal SBL-Khas claims rather than drawing them down. Source: National Training Week portal.
- ATD certificate courses recognised as 100% claimable. Following the Association for Talent Development partnership announced earlier this month, 13 ATD certificate courses are now recognised as HRD Corp 100% Claimable, delivered through three local providers: MIS Academy, Ishayu Academy, and Aurora Training and Consultancy. Source: ATD and HRD Corp.
- 14-day pre-commencement rule still applies to paid claims. The grant-term revision effective 15 June 2026 requires training under SBL-Khas to start no earlier than 14 calendar days after approval. This does not affect free NTW sessions, but it does affect any paid cohort you plan to run alongside or after NTW. Source: HRD Corp official portal.
Why it matters for your training claims
National Training Week is the most cost-efficient training window of the year for Malaysian employers, because the courses are fully funded and do not reduce your levy balance. For HR and L&D teams, the practical move is to treat NTW as a way to cover broad-based, foundational upskilling at zero levy cost, then reserve your SBL-Khas budget for the deeper, role-specific or customised programmes that NTW's open-enrolment format cannot deliver.
The free format has a trade-off worth planning around. NTW courses are open-enrolment and first-come-first-served, so they suit individual skill-building more than coordinated team training. If you need a whole department trained on the same applied workflow, on your own schedule, with measurable outcomes tied to your operations, that remains an SBL-Khas job. Use the two channels deliberately rather than treating NTW as a replacement for structured claimable training.
The 14-day pre-commencement rule is the timing detail to watch if you are running both. A paid SBL-Khas cohort scheduled close to NTW week needs its grant approved at least 14 days before the start date, so applications for late-July and early-August paid sessions should go in now to avoid a clash with the NTW rush.
What to do next
- Shortlist the NTW 2026 courses relevant to your team and register early at nationaltrainingweek.gov.my, since limited slots fill quickly once the schedule opens.
- Map which upskilling needs NTW can cover for free, and ring-fence your SBL-Khas levy for the customised, outcome-based programmes that open-enrolment courses cannot address.
- For any paid cohort planned for late July or August, submit the SBL-Khas grant application now so the 14-day pre-commencement window is satisfied well before the training date.
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