Tourism and liquor sectors likely to benefit from Covid-19 Ters extension

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Thursday evening that the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) benefits would be extended until mid-March, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has provided some clarity on how the fund intends to pay workers affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Ramaphosa said in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) that the UIF would be extending the Covid-19 TERS benefits from 16 October 2020 to 15 March 2021. He said this would be for sectors that had not been able to operate as the country remained under the adjusted alert level 3 lockdown.

ALSO READ: Government extends R350 grant, UIF Ters payments to some

In a statement on Friday, UIF spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi said the granular details about who the extension would be applied to, would be discussed and finalised by social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

Buthelezi said it was envisaged that tourism, hospitality, the liquor industry and related sectors would receive the Ters benefits.

“The UIF will announce the opening of the system for the new period once the work to configure its systems is complete, and provide guidelines to assist users with the application process,” he said.

Buthelezi also said the UIF would continue to process and pay valid outstanding claims that were already in the system. The fund has so far paid close to R60 billion since March last year and this had been done in 13 million repeated payments. The initial budget was R40 billion.

“The fund continuously reprocesses claims already in the system so that those that have been corrected and have passed validations can be paid when payment reruns are conducted.”

READ NEXT: ‘The year ahead must be a time for change’ – Read full Sona speech

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.