Unemployment Insurance Fund working towards paying unemployment benefit within a day
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is working towards paying unemployment benefit within a day, the Fund’s acting Commissioner, Ms Judith Kumbi, told employers during a seminar in Sandton, Gauteng, today.
The Seminar was held to engage and educate employers on legislation and services of the UIF.
Addressing employers, Kumbi said the Fund previously had a turnaround time of paying unemployment benefits within 30 days. However, she said, this was reviewed to the current 15 days.
Kumbi announced that the Fund was now looking at paying unemployment benefit within a day. “We will review the current turnaround time of paying within 15 days because it would be ideal for workers who lose their jobs to receive their UIF money within a day,” said Kumbi. She added that the Fund would also review decreasing the turnaround times for its other benefits like maternity, illness, death and adoption for workers who qualify.
The Acting Commissioner also revealed that the UIF currently has 1.8 million employers and 8 million workers on its database. She said the numbers demonstrated in no uncertain terms that there was high number of employers who were still failing to register their workers to the Fund. Kumbi urged workers who were not registered to report – even anonymously – so the Department of Labour’s inspectors could take action.
She further announced that in the first quarter of the current financial year, the Fund had already paid R2.7 billion in benefits compared to R2 billion in the same period of the previous financial year. She said most of the claims came from the construction and hospitality sectors.
Kumbi told employers that domestic workers were the most vulnerable in terms of registration within the Fund. “The Fund is also pushing to increase registration of workers from the taxi and agricultural sectors,” said Kumbi. She urged all employers to register and declare their workers to the Fund, especially the domestic workers.
The head of the Department of Labour in Gauteng, Tshepo Mokomatsidi, strongly urged employers to ensure that they declare their workers to the UIF every month to avoid delays in claims.
Enquiries:
Makhosonke Buthelezi
Cell: 071 491 7236
Teboho Thejane
Cell: 082 697 0694
