By Kaya 959 Reporter
The Unemployment Insurance Fund has paid nearly R1 billion in benefits since the start of December.
Acting UIF Commissioner, Advocate Mzie Yawa, says payouts valued at R931 million in ordinary benefits were paid to about 180 833 beneficiaries.
Yawa says there are 119 091 payments that are in abeyance awaiting corrections due to various unresolved errors.
“This is due to failed bank verification, unverified foreign nationals, employees who were not declared on the UIF and incorrect ID numbers.
The UIF says the decentralisation process has drastically reduced the online claims backlog. The backlog dropped from 111 000 in September 2021 to 28 000 in November 2021.
Currently, there are 3 701 claims submitted via its uFiling system that could not be paid due to various reasons.
Yawa explains some of these reasons could be termination dates that were not captured on UI.19 forms.
Another possible reason is the information on clients’ forms differing from details captured by the department. Changes in salary schedules or medical certificates and leave income could also result in payment delays.
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Submit missing information
The fund is again appealing to applicants to correct the errors and submit the missing information. This will ensure claims can be processed immediately when payments resume next Monday, 3 January 2022.
“The UIF has also been continuing with payments of COVID-19 TERS Relief Scheme and Workers Affected by the Unrest. Since the inception of the COVID-19 TERS Relief Scheme in March 2020 to date, the Fund has disbursed R63,8 billion, bringing relief to at least 5.4 million workers,” Yawa says.
He adds that the figure is the biggest amount that has been paid by the government to help workers, businesses and to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on the South African economy.
He says the fund appreciates the work done by employers who have heeded its pleas to correct errors throughout the year and enabled payments.
Yawa says all valid COVID-19 TERS claims have been paid. However, the fund will continue to pay the unresolved claims once corrections have been made from 3 January 2022.
“Therefore, we urge employers to correct the errors on the COVID-19 TERS portal and furnish outstanding information to enable us to pay if the claims are valid. The portal also guides the applicant on how to resolve each error,” Yawa says.
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