Unemployment fund urges employers to correct errors
The fund aims to rapidly decrease the number of outstanding claims and ultimately close them by the end of December 2021.
OUTSTANDING Covid-19 TERS payments are being held up by errors made by employers on submission forms. This is according to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) which is appealing to employers to resolve errors to enable it to finalise outstanding claims.
The fund aims to rapidly decrease the number of outstanding claims and ultimately close them by the end of December 2021.
“We have observed that most Covid-19 TERS payments are unsuccessful due to employers or their representatives failing to follow the application procedures correctly. The application platform provides error messages and guides employers on what they need to do to correct mistakes,” said Advocate Mzie Yawa, Acting UIF Commissioner.
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“We appreciate efforts by among others SACTWU and NUMSA who heeded our plea to talk to their employers, which has helped to have most of their issues resolved. We urge all unions and employers whose members/workers have not been paid to correct the errors or causes of non-payment as they appear on our portal and resubmit corrected applications so payments can be finalised. Failure to do this within a month from now, may result in the application considered closed,” added Yawa.
In a statement, the UIF said a project team has been formed to find solutions for the most common errors relating to specific UIF process of compliance or audit/risk issue.
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The most common errors that the team will be focusing on fall within the following broad categories: declarations, incorrect banking details, incorrect income, invalid identity and passport numbers. The project will involve reaching out to employers through various communication mechanisms, improved customer interface on COVID-19 TERS portal, and vigorous compliance drive.
UIF said they have successfully made 14 292 888 payments to employees from 786 972 applications received from employers since the inception of the relief scheme in March 2020. This accounts for a total of R63-billion in payments. The UIF is still verifying applications for the Workers Affected By Unrest (WABU) relief scheme. To date, 255 applications have been received.
