Labour department, Nedlac partners to extend UIF April/May claims

Minister of Labour and Employment Thulas Nxesi. Picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS

Minister of Labour and Employment Thulas Nxesi. Picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS

Published Aug 4, 2020

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Port Elizabeth - The labour and employment department has announced in a statement on Monday that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is to continue processing new Covid-19 TERS claims for April and May.

"This is in line with the agreement reached by Nedlac social partners that new applications for the April/May period should still be processed and that there will be a 14-day notice window period, still to be announced, given to employers and employees before applications will close to submit these applications.

"The fund is working tirelessly to ensure that all valid Covid-19 TERS benefits claims for April, May and June are settled and sorted out as it gears up to open the system for the new extended period of six weeks ending on August 15."

It said that it would provide employers with guidelines to circumvent the numerous challenges to handling applications and to enable processing for payment.

It said the fund would re-run updates on declarations on the system twice a week to reduce the number of outstanding claims. "Added to that, UIF makes payments every day, except on Sundays, in order to fast-track outstanding claims," the statement said.

“The Fund is also working on a number of front-end adjustments to the system to enable applicants to fix some of the errors on their own which will greatly ease the load on our side and improve the flow,” UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, said.

The statement said incidents of fraud have prompted the Fund to introduce the verification of banking details before payment is released into the applicant’s bank account.

“The UIF is reliant on the banks to ensure bank details verification. In instances where claims have failed bank verification, we appeal to employers to update the banking details on the system.

"The process to be followed will be outlined in the FAQs that will soon be made available on the Department’s website and the TERS online system. The Fund has made this activity to be the responsibility of the client because of its sensitive nature, but most importantly it removes the potential of our officials meddling with client’s private information,” Maruping said.

The Fund has so far paid out over R37 billion for 693,561 applications benefitting about 8.3 million workers, the statement said.

“With the testimonies that we are receiving, it is quite clear to us that these disbursements have made a real difference to millions of people dependent on the workers who received these cash injections. As the Fund, it is an honour of us to have played this part and will do so until August 15,” Maruping said.

"The Fund will leverage its resources to ensure that it continues to process those claims that are in the system and honour those that are valid in line with commitment it has made to various parliamentary committees and the workers in this country,” Maruping said.

African News Agency/ANA

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