Lack of directive stalls extended Ters applications

• Despite workers and employers kept waiting for payments, the UIF has insisted that there is no backlog in paying Covid-19 benefits

The application process for the extended Covid-19 relief scheme, which would allow workers to receive muchneeded money for July and August, is still not open because the government has not yet published a directive on it. The Temporary Employer/ Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) was initially envisaged to cover April, May and June and was established as a key part of the government’s R500bn relief package to help those affected by the lockdown, which is set to push the economy into its biggest slump in about a century.

The application process for the extended Covid-19 relief scheme, which would allow workers to receive muchneeded money for July and August, is still not open because the government has not yet published a directive on it.

The Temporary Employer /Employee Relief scheme (Ters) was initially envisaged to cover April, May and June and was established as a key part of the government’s R500bn economic and social-relief package to help those affected by the lockdown, which is set to push the economy into its biggest slump in about a century.

It was announced in July that the Ters benefit would be extended for six weeks until August 15. But this has not yet happened.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), through which Ters is funded, said that the opening of applications was subject to the publishing of a ministerial directive on the extension.

PROCESSING CLAIMS

“Once this has been published, an announcement will be made as to when the UIF will start processing claims for July and August 2020,” said spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi. “I am aware that the system has been tested and is ready for processing July/August claims.”

There is no indication as to when the directive will be published. The DA said employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi had to indicate when the July applications would open.

“He owes it to the anxious and desperate workers of SA, who aren’t sure when their next pay cheque will arrive,” said MP Michael Cardo.

The ministry referred all questions on the Ters benefit to the UIF. Altogether R40bn has been set aside for Ters.

Buthelezi said that by Saturday the UIF had paid out about R38.5bn from 727,238 applications, covering 8.7-million workers. The UIF has insisted that there is no backlog in paying the benefits, despite workers and employers left waiting for payments. By mid-July, some workers and employers were still waiting for payments from April and May.

Deputy employment and labour minister Boitumelo Moloi told parliament last month that applications for April and May benefits would be closed by the end of July.

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) is apparently finalising a plan to extend Ters for three months from July to September for selected categories of workers.

A survey conducted by the National Employers’ Association of SA (Neasa) found that 14% of employers had still not received their April Ters money. Of the 86% that did, only 66% were paid in full. Altogether 42% of employers were still waiting for their June money, Neasa said.

Last week, UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping said that the fund was working to ensure that all Ters claims for April, May and June were settled and sorted out as it geared up to open the system for the new, extended period of six weeks.

Maruping said that to reduce the number of outstanding claims the fund was rerunning updates on declarations on the system twice a week, and that the UIF was making payments every day, except on Sundays, to fast-track outstanding claims.