HRD CORP TRAINING
The HRD Corp Allowable Cost Matrix: what employers can actually claim in 2026
Course fees, the new hourly-based claim rates, and the travel/meal/overseas allowances that stack on top — the ceilings HRD Corp raised from RM6,000 to RM10,500 a day, explained with the source figures.
Under HRD Corp's Allowable Cost Matrix (ACM), Malaysian employers can claim course fees up to RM10,500 per group per day for in-house training or RM1,750 per participant per day for public courses, plus travel, meal and overseas allowances — all funded from the employer's own 1% levy account, mainly through the SBL-Khas scheme, per HRD Corp's revised matrix effective 1 November 2024.
- The course-fee ceiling rose from RM6,000 to up to RM1,500/hour or RM10,500/day. Announced 4 October 2024 at the Asean Skills Forum and effective 1 November 2024, per Bernama and The Edge Malaysia.
- In-house training is claimable up to RM10,500/group/day; public courses up to RM1,750/participant/day; e-learning up to RM875/participant/day (RM125/hour). Per mishu.my's reading of HRD Corp's Employer's Circular.
- Hourly-based claims now run from RM70 for 1 hour up to RM700 for 7 hours per participant. Per OE Academy.
- Allowances stack on top of the course fee — up to RM250/day for travel under 100km, RM500/day at 100km or further, RM100/day for meals, and RM1,500/day for overseas training, per mishu.my.
- SME Association President Chin Chee Seong called the hourly-claim shift “particularly beneficial for SMEs” because training no longer has to consume a full working day, per Bernama.
Want to size a training budget against these ceilings before you commit? WhatsApp Carriera and Steph will walk through what your levy account can fund this year.
HRD Corp's Allowable Cost Matrix is the least glamorous document in the training-levy system and the one that decides whether a claim gets paid in full or gets quietly capped. Most employers only meet it when a claim comes back lower than expected. This guide sets out exactly what the ACM allows for course fees, the new hourly claim structure, and every allowance that sits on top — with the source for each figure.
What the ACM actually is
What is the HRD Corp Allowable Cost Matrix (ACM)?
The Allowable Cost Matrix (ACM) is the HRD Corp document that sets the maximum amount employers can claim from their training levy for each cost category — course fees, trainer fees, allowances and materials — under schemes like SBL-Khas. It does not set what a course costs; it caps what HRD Corp will reimburse against that cost.
Every employer registered with HRD Corp contributes a levy into an account it draws against for approved training. The ACM fixes ceilings, not fixed prices: an employer is always free to spend less than the ceiling, but can never claim more than it, regardless of what the training provider actually charged. Employers who haven't sized their own training budget yet can start with Carriera's guide to how the HRD Corp levy itself is calculated.
The ceiling by training format
How much can employers claim for course fees under the ACM?
Course-fee ceilings depend on training format: in-house training is claimable up to RM10,500 per group per day (RM6,000 for a half-day), public face-to-face courses up to RM1,750 per participant per day (RM1,000 for a half-day), and e-learning up to RM875 per participant per day — RM125 per participant per hour — under HRD Corp's matrix effective 1 November 2024.
| Training format | Full-day ceiling | Half-day ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| In-house, face-to-face | RM10,500 per group per day | RM6,000 per group |
| Public, face-to-face | RM1,750 per participant per day | RM1,000 per participant |
| E-learning | RM875 per participant per day (RM125/hour) | — |
Course-fee ceilings under HRD Corp's revised Allowable Cost Matrix, effective 1 November 2024, per mishu.my.
The RM10,500 in-house figure is the one HRD Corp itself highlighted when it announced the change: the previous cap for a full day of in-house training was RM6,000, per Bernama's report of the announcement — RM4,500 more claimable in a single day, a 75% jump by Carriera's own calculation on those two figures. Because the in-house ceiling is per group, not per participant, the cost per employee keeps falling as more staff sit in the same session — a reason in-house training is usually the more efficient claim for a team of five or more.
The new pay-per-hour structure
How do the new hourly-based HRD Corp claims work?
Since the ACM update, employers no longer have to book a half-day or full-day slot to claim training costs — HRD Corp now pays per hour, from RM70 for one hour up to RM700 for a full 7-hour day, per participant, with the daily course-fee cap set at RM10,500. This lets employers claim for genuinely short sessions instead of over- or under-booking training time.
| Training duration | Claimable per participant |
|---|---|
| 1 hour | RM70 |
| 2 hours | RM140 |
| 3 hours | RM210 |
| 4 hours | RM350 |
| 5 hours | RM490 |
| 6 hours | RM560 |
| Up to 7 hours | RM700 |
HRD Corp's hourly-based claim rates per participant, per OE Academy.
The hourly structure directly answers a complaint HRD Corp had heard from employers: a two-hour compliance briefing used to be claimed at the same half-day rate as a four-hour workshop, burning levy on block time nobody used. Malaysian Employers Federation President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman welcomed the change, per Bernama:
“The new fee structure allows employers more flexibility in conducting training programmes.” — Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman, President, Malaysian Employers Federation
What stacks on top of the course fee
What allowances can employers claim on top of the course fee?
Beyond the course fee itself, HRD Corp allows employers to claim trainee and trainer allowances: up to RM250 per participant per day for training within 100km, up to RM500 per participant per day for training 100km or further, up to RM100 per participant per day for meals, and up to RM1,500 per participant per day for overseas training, all under the same revised matrix.
These allowance ceilings apply on top of, not instead of, the course-fee cap. A full-day in-house session run more than 100km from the workplace can draw on the RM10,500 group course-fee ceiling and the RM500-per-participant travel allowance in the same claim, per HRD Corp's matrix as summarised by mishu.my. Every allowance is reimbursed against actual documented expense up to the ceiling, not paid as a flat sum, so the receipts and attendance records the e-TRiS claim portal asks for are what determines the payout, not the ceiling figure itself.
The old cap, the new cap, and the date
What changed from the old cost matrix, and when?
HRD Corp raised its course-fee ceiling from RM6,000 per day to up to RM1,500 per hour or RM10,500 per day, moving from fixed half-day/full-day claims to hourly-based claims. Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong announced the change on 4 October 2024 at the Asean Skills Forum, and the revised matrix took effect 1 November 2024.
For SMEs specifically, the practical effect is fewer wasted levy ringgit on training that ran shorter than the block it was claimed under — a direct answer to the common SME complaint that giving up a full working day is too high a price for a two-hour update. As Bernama reported:
“Hourly-based claims are particularly beneficial for SMEs, as it ensures training can be done without disrupting daily operations.” — Chin Chee Seong, President, SME Association of Malaysia
SBL-Khas vs SBL, in brief
Does the ACM apply the same way to SBL and SBL-Khas?
The Allowable Cost Matrix sets the ceilings; SBL-Khas is the scheme most Malaysian employers actually claim under, where HRD Corp pays the registered training provider directly from the employer's levy account so there is no upfront outlay. The mechanics that separate SBL-Khas from the older employer-pays-first SBL scheme are a separate question from the ACM ceilings themselves.
Employers who are still unclear on the difference between the two schemes — or between SBL-Khas and the broader idea of a “claimable course” — should start with Carriera's HRD Corp vs SBL-Khas vs claimable courses comparison and SBL-Khas explained. This guide covers what you can claim once you're in SBL-Khas; those two cover which scheme you're actually in.
How Carriera helps — and what we don’t do
Where does Carriera fit on HRD Corp claims?
Carriera does not process HRD Corp claims on an employer's behalf — the e-TRiS grant application and reimbursement submission remain the employer's own filing. Where Carriera Academy fits is as the HRD Corp Approved Training Provider running the claimable course itself, priced to sit inside the ACM ceilings above.
If your team's next step is understanding the claim process end to end, Carriera's step-by-step HRD Corp claim guide walks through the grant-application-to-reimbursement sequence these ceilings apply to. And if the real gap isn't a training budget but headcount, our recruitment team places permanent talent for 50+ companies across sectors from logistics and freight to accounting and finance.
Still have questions?
HRD Corp Allowable Cost Matrix — employer FAQ
What is the HRD Corp Allowable Cost Matrix (ACM)?
How much can I claim for in-house training under the ACM?
How do the new hourly-based HRD Corp claims work?
What allowances can I claim on top of the course fee?
Does Carriera process HRD Corp claims or give tax and legal advice?
Sources: the RM6,000-to-RM10,500/RM1,500-per-hour ceiling change, the 4 October 2024 Asean Skills Forum announcement, Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong's announcement, and the quotations from Malaysian Employers Federation President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman and SME Association President Chin Chee Seong, per Bernama; the Asean Skills Forum announcement date per The Edge Malaysia; the 1 November 2024 effective date and the course-fee/allowance figures by training format per mishu.my's reading of HRD Corp's Allowable Cost Matrix and Employer's Circular No. 3/2024; the hourly-based claim rate table and the RM10,500 daily cap per OE Academy. Verified 17 July 2026. This article is general information for employers, not tax or legal advice; confirm current ceilings on the official HRD Corp portal before filing a claim, as the ACM is revised periodically.
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