The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency launches a new training grant programme

A new training grant programme has been launched to support the labour market goals of the Hungarian Government, namely to enhance the competitiveness and employability of the Hungarian labour force via training and strengthening employee competencies. The new training grant programme has no fixed allocated budget, open for application all-year-around, and it is administered by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA). With the introduction of the new training grant programme the former training grant programme managed by the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the National Institute of Vocational and Adult Education (NIVE), operating under the auspices of the Ministry, is terminated.

The grant is available anywhere in Hungary – including Budapest – to all small and medium-sized and large enterprises, which do not qualify as an ‘enterprise in difficulty’. However, if an enterprise was in ‘in difficulty’ between 1 January and 30 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is eligible for the training grant (as the impact of COVID is treated as an atypical impact unrelated to and not attributable to companies).

The eligibility requirements are different for shared service centres and enterprises operating in other sectors:

• Shared service centres: need to maintain the existing and create at least 25 new jobs (provided that the enterprise is not a beneficiary of a regional aid granted by an individual government decision) for at least 18 months following the end of the training project.
• Enterprises operating in other sectors: need to implement an investment project (establishing, enhancing or developing production capacity) in a value of at least EUR 5 million as well as to maintain the existing jobs for at least 18 months following the end of the training project or the completion of the investment (if the investment ends beyond the completion date of the training project).

The training grant covers a maximum of 50 % of the total eligible costs. The grant amount shall not exceed EUR 5 000 per trainee, and the maximum grant amount for a training project is EUR 2 million. When making the grant decision, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) takes into consideration the industry, the number of maintained and newly created jobs, the value of the investment exceeding EUR 5 million, the level of economic development of the location, the enterprise size and the characteristics, targets and planned results of the training project.

Both internal and external (i.e. held by external contractors) trainings are eligible. Eligible costs cover personnel, administrative, material, travel, accommodation and consultancy costs related to the training project as well as the amortization costs of the assets used for the trainings. It is important to note that the duration of the training project cannot exceed 24 months.

Should you need any further information on training grant or other grants and incentives, contact our expert.