The Unemployment Insurance Fund, which is a section of the Department of Labour, provides various interventions and social security to the workforce and their families.
There are death benefits, maternity benefits, illness benefits and even benefits for adoption.
The money paid into the UIF from contributions by employers and employees is invested in the Public Investment Corporation and the Department of Labour has accrued more than R50billion worth of investment.
These investments are there to cover any eventuality with regard to the workforce and also cover the enormous retrenchments which are taking place.
The surplus funds are carefully managed and reviewed by the UIF Board. These funds also go towards developmental or socially responsible investments.
These investments account for 20% of the UIF investments. There are also poverty alleviation schemes which are aimed at training and reskilling UIF beneficiaries. Many of these schemes are to enable beneficiaries to start their own businesses or to train them to reintegrate into the workforce.
It must be emphasised that any employee who leaves of his or her own accord cannot lodge a claim for UIF.
Many employees believe their investment in the UIF through deductions of their salary is their money and that when they leave work they can have access to these funds. This is not correct.
The UIF is specifically geared to be an insurance fund for the loss of a position, as opposed to a resignation.
We are expecting amendments to come through and to be made law next year.
The amendments will enable workers to enjoy more benefits. These will include the introduction of a 66% flat rate for maternity benefit and extending the cover to public servants and people who are in learnership. At this stage, public servants and learnerships are not covered by the UIF.
We have seen an enormous increase in the value of claims for UIF benefits. Last year they were almost R9.2bn. The unemployment benefit made up 80% of that total.
Unfortunately, the unemployment figures are increasing and we have had negative growth in the South African economy.
This unemployment insurance fund is vital for the protection of those who lose their jobs.
The Department of Labour has also investigated the effect of the computerised economy on the future workforce. It is understood that this fourth industrial revolution in the workplace could make anything up to 20% of jobs redundant. This will place enormous pressure on the UIF.
There is a right in South Africa of access to social security and, although the payouts from UIF are not handsome, they are invariably desperately needed.
The government sees this intervention as one of the most powerful instruments towards the alleviation of poverty.
It cannot be argued but that the Department of Labour has made a significant impact on the lives of workers and their families through these poverty alleviation schemes.
It is, however, still reported that there are long queues and cumbersome methods of claiming and, invariably, computers not working.
The commissioner of the UIF, Teboho Maruping, has intervened to try to deal with the bottlenecks and the reported maladministration.
Although the UIF has had negative reports from the Auditor-General, Maruping is at the forefront of structuring it to be more efficient and able to be of service to the public quickly and effectively.
Should there be issues with the UIF, call Gauteng at 0113660300, the Western Cape at 0214418992, KwaZulu Natal at 0313662000 and the Eastern Cape at 0437013128