New round of Ters payments ready to roll

Employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi has signed the updated directives for the extension of the wage protection scheme for workers still affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, paving the way for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to process new claims.

Last month President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his state of the nation address that the Temporary Employer/ Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) would be extended to March 15.

It now covers the period from October 15 2020, when the benefit originally came to an end, until March.

The UIF and social partners met at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) after proposals were tabled by the fund on how Ters would be extended to sectors still affected by lockdown regulations and also to employees with comorbidities and those older than 60 years who cannot be reasonably accommodated at work.

The UIF said after much deliberation, agreement was reached that the extension should cover businesses or establishments in sectors hardest hit by the lockdown, such as tourism, liquor, hospitality, conferencing events and activities in related value chains.

Acting UIF commissioner Marsha Bronkhorst said the social partners had pushed for the inclusion of business activities that get indirectly affected if the main business they render a service to is not operational.”

“For example, a bottling supplier in the liquor industry gets affected if production is stopped or reduced by the alcohol manufacturer, and so does the wine or grain farmer who supplies raw material to the manufacturer.”

The UIF said the Ters benefit is only applicable to employees who contributed to the fund. Two new payment periods will be covered, the first from October 16 to December 31 2020 and the second from January 1 to March 15 2021.

The online application system for the first payment iteration has already been opened, the fund said.