FO U I FC U S
CLAIM BACK With applications for Phase 2 open as of 6 April 2021, the UIF is working to ensure it can pay out benefits for TERS applicants as swiftly as possible.
A
t the start of South Africa’s lockdown just over a year ago, it was announced that the country’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) would be supporting the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS). According to the UIF, TERS has, to date, paid out R61 billion in claims; however, deployment of this money been a challenge that has left many companies and individuals frustrated at the perceived slow and inconsistent manner in which funds are received. On 15 April 2021, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) invited Allan Ragavaloo, director: Provincial
Support at the UIF, to talk on how employers and employees can claim from TERS, and to address just some of the challenges they are encountering when claiming benefits.
WHERE IS TERS CURRENTLY? In mid-February this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a welcome extension of TERS, which is now in Phase 2 of the programme. As of 6 April 2021, further benefits can be claimed by employers and employees for 16 October 2020 to 15 March 2021. This is split into two periods; the first being from 16 October to 31 December 2020, and the second from 1 January to 15 March 2021. The UIF is presently only focusing on claims for the first period of Phase 2 and will process applications for the second period at a later stage. Although applications for Phase 1 are now closed, with all claims processed and benefits paid for the period from 27 March to 15 October
Allan Ragavaloo, director: Provincial Support at the UIF
16 • MEETINGS l MAY/JUNE 2021
2020, the UIF opened its appeals process from 6 April 2021 and it is working through rejected claims for Phase 1. It aims to ensure a turnaround of five working days to pay out benefits from the date of all applications being successfully lodged.
BACKLOG TO MANAGE ISSUES OF NON-COMPLIANCE Employers can claim benefits from TERS on behalf of their employees only if they have declared their employees as contributors to the UIF. As Allan pointed out, a large number of employers only registered their employees with the UIF at the beginning of lockdown, and not when the employee first started working for the company. This has been problematic, as it resulted in a massive influx of employee declarations together with TERS claims. The UIF is working to correct this but it has impacted the processing of other already-compliant claims. “Employers did not declare timeously prior to lockdown and only declared when they wanted TERS payments. In terms of the law, this should
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