Payments held up as some companies claim for the dead, says UIF
The department found that some companies tried to claim not only on behalf of deceased employees, but also with non-existent identity document numbers.
UIF Ters pay-outs were being delayed because some companies fraudulently claimed on behalf of dead people, the Department of Employment and Labour said.
The department said delays were unavoidable as it had to probe such fraudulent applications first.
It, however, promised beneficiaries that those with valid claims would receive disbursements even as the department began to wind down its “massive campaign of supporting workers”.
Thousands of South Africans have relied on UIF Ters funding to survive following the closure of many businesses in March because of the lockdown.
Glitches, unfortunately, resulted in late pay-outs, while some never received any payments at all.
According to the department, the UIF entity paid out R31-billion in over 6.9 million payments.
UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping said the department found that some companies tried to claim not only on behalf of deceased employees, but also with non-existent identity document numbers.
“At least over 4 000 claims, made between April and May, were lodged on behalf of deceased persons. [Luckily] thorough vetting has picked up all these anomalies. We are following every cent paid out and will continue processing valid claims, but some claims cannot be processed for obvious reasons,” he said.
He said there were 48 189 invalid ID numbers used in April. This figure was slightly down to 43 176 in May.
Maruping said the UIF checked ID numbers to prevent duplicate payments and also verified banking details in addition to measures such as password protection.
He said there were also ID numbers that could not be found on any system, in April, there were 106 488 of these and in May, the number was down to 84 278.
“No payments will be made by the UIF until the necessary controls are in place.”
He said there were 218 548 employees not registered with SARS in April who had applied for the fund, which also caused a delay.
“We gave employers the chance to declare these workers through uFiling, after which we would be able to pay,” he said.
As a result, 171 393 employees were declared by employers on uFiling in April and 113 856 in May.
“We have either paid them or are in the process of doing so,” said Maruping.
Maruping added that the department had problems with companies failing to confirm employment of employees.
“The fund will continue to process those claims that are in the system. The April and May applications are closed, but the June applications are still active. The extra vetting means that instead of paying in 24 hours, the minimum time now is 48 hours.”
Employment and Labour Ministry announced extension of covid19 relief payments until August 15 in Budge vote https://t.co/5ddIb4Nn9F pic.twitter.com/rLqxmpZ32h
— Department of Employment and Labour (@deptoflabour) July 21, 2020
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