PRETORIA - By close of business on Thursday, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) had processed and paid out coronavirus (Covid-19) relief payments of R836,603,171, benefitting 195,521 workers represented by 8495 employers, according to Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.
"This bring to 2,288,295 the total number of workers who have been given relief during this lockdown which may be in lieu of or a top up to their salaries. The total amount disbursed since April 16, 2020 is just a bit below R13 billion (R12,752,215,741)," he said in a statement.
“Of importance is that we have now started paying workers directly to their bank accounts, not through employers only. What this means is that workers do not have to wait until employers transfer their benefits to their accounts.
While the claim is submitted by the employer who would have all the information that is pertinent to make the payments, the actual payment goes straight to the account of the worker, thus eliminating further waiting periods,” he said.
This was as a result of the department's efforts to be responsive to suggestions emanating from its stakeholders. The fact that this week 45,547 employees had been paid in claims submitted by 5975 employers to the tune of R211 million directly, meant that the department's systems were being fine-tuned and payment response times improved.
“Already, we are at the stage where if the application is complete, accurate, and valid, at best the department will process payment within 24 hours and worst in 48 hours. We are working hard to ensure that our systems respond to and accommodate the needs of our prime stakeholders – the workers,” Nxesi said.
These improvements came on top of further strides made. For example, the call centre now had 500 agents handling up to 70,000 calls a day.
“We are now at a stage where 70 percent of those calls are attended to, on average, within three minutes. Again, we have listened to the anguished calls and we are making sure that our machinery is smooth and seamless to the extent possible,” Nxesi said.