UIF even worse than you reported

IN response to “How to make the UIF work for workers” (January 15): I was retrenched in 2015 and the company where I’d worked for 28 years submitted all of the necessary information to the UIF while I was still working my notice.

The new commissioner’s complaint about non-compliant companies is therefore not valid in my case.

The writer mentioned people waiting between eight to 12 weeks for claims to be paid. In my case, I only received my first payment more than four months after registering online.

During that time, I visited the offices in Pretoria numerous times trying to sort out this unacceptable situation.

Thereafter, I received my “monthly” payments at the following intervals: eight weeks, five weeks, six weeks and six weeks.

The UIF staff were generally unfriendly and often unhelpful, and some were just downright rude. One got the impression they felt they were being forced to pay out their own personal savings to the unemployed.

The new commissioner also stated that the online system is working very well. I would welcome the opportunity to show him proof of the fact that the online system is a shambles! — Trevor, by e-mail