Is in-house training HRD Corp claimable?

The rules are not ambiguous — just scattered across a scheme page, a participant table and a guidebook that never applies any of it to a real company. If the scheme names are the confusing part, start with HRD Corp vs SBL-Khas vs "Claimable Courses".

To HRD Corp, in-house training is a customised course built for employees of one organisation, and it is claimable: HRD Corp Claimable Courses provides "Funding for in-house or public training for a minimum duration of four (4) hours" (HRD Corp). The definition is narrower than most employers assume:

“Customised courses attended by employees from one (1) organisation.”

— Guidebook Allowable Cost Matrix (January 2026), HRD Corp

The shape must qualify too: minimum two trainees face-to-face, one for remote online training, capped at fifty per group for soft skills and twenty-five for technical.

Both schemes fund in-house training, and the trainer decides which one you are in. A registered provider puts you on HRD Corp Claimable Courses, the everyday name for SBL-Khas. Your own staff, a vendor or any unregistered trainer puts you on Skim Bantuan Latihan — "an exception to HCC scheme, in which employers are allowed to use trainers from" non-registered providers.

HCC and SBL differ on who is out of pocket. Under HCC, "employers are not required to make any advance payments to training providers" — HRD Corp debits your accumulated levy. Under SBL, "employers are required to pay training providers the course fee and request for reimbursement of the fee paid from HRD Corp". See SBL vs SBL-Khas and who pays first.

An in-house General Course is capped at RM10,500 per day per group, a full day meaning at least seven training hours, and RM6,000 per half day of no more than four hours. Those are group rates, not per-person rates — which is what makes in-house cheap per head at size.

“The course fee will be prorated if the number of trainees are less than five (5). For example, RM10,500/5 trainees = RM2,100 per trainee.”

— Guidebook Allowable Cost Matrix (January 2026), HRD Corp

The proration rule changes the decision. Commission a customised day for three people and the ceiling is three lots of RM2,100 — RM6,300 — while the provider still quotes a full day of their time. Service tax is claimable "provided it does not exceed the maximum claimable amount", so SST buys no headroom. The rest of the matrix is in our cost matrix guide, and the same ceilings govern team building.

You can still claim. HRD Corp pays an internal trainer allowance when "they use their own qualified employees who are subject matter experts to conduct in-house training", capped at RM1,400 per day per group and RM800 per half day. Internal trainers "are not required to be registered with HRD Corp".

The same proration applies: the allowance "will be prorated if there are fewer than five (5) trainees". This route recovers the cost of running training in-house, not of buying it in — and it is SBL, so you pay first.

An in-house programme now needs more lead time than a public one. The application goes in before the start date, but approval alone stopped being enough on 15 June 2026: an approved programme waits out a fortnight before it may run, then must start within 90 calendar days of that window closing.

"In-house training programmes can be conducted 14 days after grant approval"— HRD Corp Claimable Courses, effective 15 June 2026

Public training got a temporary concession: it "can be conducted three (3) days after grant approval", from 15 June to 31 December 2026, after which "the requirement returns to the 14-day rule, aligning with in-house training programmes". So an employer racing to spend levy before year-end has a faster route — until December. Claims are due within six months of completion — steps in our claim guide.

Group size decides in-house versus public more often than preference does. Under SBL, public training runs "for a minimum of 1 pax and a maximum of 9 pax". Send three people and you take on the proration rule, the longer lead time and a full trainer's fee — usually three reasons to book a public course instead. Send fifteen and the same RM10,500 spreads fifteen ways.

Carriera Academy's public workshops run live over Zoom, dated on the training page; the levy calculator shows what your balance supports.

Primary sources, live-checked 10 September 2026: HRD Corp Guidebook Allowable Cost Matrix (January 2026); HRD Corp Claimable Courses; Skim Bantuan Latihan (SBL). Rates and approval windows are revised from time to time — confirm current terms on hrdcorp.gov.my before applying.