Employment and Labour on improved UIF systems paying out more than R5-billion during Covid-19 lockdown

In its quest for continual improvement, and to deliver efficiently and effectively to its customers, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has tweaked its systems to ensure more pertinent information is available on its online platform. The Fund released the following upgrades to their systems:

• Employers, employees and organised labour will now be able to see which companies have been paid. This is in respect to a number of queries where workers have been unable to determine if their companies have applied for, and received payment on their behalf from the Department of Employment and Labour Covid-19 TERS scheme. This relieves the overwhelmed call centre as information is available on the fingertips. Click here to access this service.
• Employers will be able to log and check the status of their claims
• Employers will also be able to see the schedule of the approved claim which shows how much is due to each employee. Again, employers have inundated the UIF with requests for information on the exact amounts for different employees, and
• Employers who do not know their UIF reference number but know their PAYE can now retrieve the UIF number by using their PAYE number.

“As a public service institution, it is our duty to ensure that we listen to our stakeholders and to the extent possible, to make the necessary enhancements so that those who consume our services do so with relative ease and minimal issues. We continue to listen to our stakeholders and we will make further enhancement to the system in response to the identified needs of our stakeholders,” said UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping. The enhancements have also ensured that the online systems for claims capturing, processing and eventual payment have been stress-tested and came out tops with the overflow of applications that have been received. “At some stage, it looked like our system could not handle the overwhelming interest but we are happy that we have managed to meet the demand and pay in record time – with some people indicating that they have been paid within 24-hours of lodging the claims,” said the Commissioner. These enhancements have seen the UIF paying just over R5-billion in combined normal and Covid-19 benefits since April 16 (R5 080 350 404). https://twitter.com/UIFBenefits/status/1255438622037344257?s=19   As of yesterday, 28 April, the UIF has paid more than 1 035 303 workers Covid-19 TERS relief benefits to the tune of R4 109 434 596. For normal benefits, the UIF has paid nearly R1-billion (R970 915 807). As indicated, the Department urged and still continues to urge the employers to apply for relief on behalf of their employees. The figures paid to-date represent successful claims submitted by 72 221 employers. However, claims by some 55 169 employers representing 361 557 workers are still in abeyance pending submission of further particulars by employers. This means that these workers are missing out on one and a half billion rand (R 1 469 123 104) and the Department of Employment and Labour has appealed again to employers to help with further information. *Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).