In the Parliamentary committee on employment and labour of 1 May 2020, the Minister of Employment and Labour was requested to provide an update on UIF claims, payments and recovery.

 

In the update, the Minister advised that during the month of April 2020 and up to 1 May 2020, 188 253 applications had been made through the TERS website portal and platform of which 50 867  applications had various errors and were returned.

 

Of the remaining 137 386 claims 77 800 had been processed.

 

The remainder of the 58 835 claims were submitted on behalf of employees in respect of whose employees no UIF had been previously paid and those employees were not registered.

 

A standard memorandum of Agreement had also been prepared which had already been signed by the Director-General to make the process more user friendly and easier for employers of over 10 employees.

 

Interestingly, Gauteng accounts for almost 30% of all claims made by employers whilst in the Western Cape accounted for 15%, the other provinces make up the balance and range from 6% down to 2%.

 

Whilst the TERS fund is administered by the UIF, it also continues to make payments to assist employers and their employees of the ordinary unemployment benefits.

 

52 000 unemployment/retrenchment benefits had been paid for the period of 26 March to 30 April 2020.

 

In addition, almost 10 000 maternity applications have been processed and payments made.