The Economic Cluster of the South African government held a media briefing today, 28 April at which more details on the Covid-19 socio-economic relief and inventions was shared. Minister of Labour and Employment, Thulas Nxesi called on employers to assist their employees by applying for the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) on their behalf. Nxesi said, “The challenge is where employers are not assisting their employees to claim. We have calculated that some 220 000 workers entitled to claim, have not done so.”
He added he believed the reason for this was the unwillingness on the part of employers to assist their workers with the process. Nxesi said the department would be contacting those who form part of the 220 00 workers who are eligible for the scheme to try and engage them on the matter.
According to the cluster, to date the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) had received just over 103 000 applications from employers representing about 1.75 million employees. In total, the UIF had over 1.8 million employers registered on its database, representing more than 8 million workers. As of 28 April the cumulative amount paid was R3.3 billion.
The minister also clarified issues surrounding what percentage of their salaries workers could expect to receive. He explained, “We pay based on the payroll which has been submitted by the employer. The pay-out will be capped at 38 percent of the employee’s salary and has been planned to last for three months. However, only time will tell if the scheme will need to be extended.”
The statement pointed out that the UIF had already processed 59 000 employer applications, resulting in 862 000 employees receiving benefits. Some 10 000 applications could not be processed due to errors on application forms but these applicants had been informed and the corrections were awaited.
The UIF, it said, had also increased its call centre capacity from 75 agents to 400. Nxesi said, “We are on board, we are moving with the train, but the employers must also play their role.”
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