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BL Premium reports that business lobby group Business for SA (B4SA) said on Friday that the administrative process to access Covid-19 relief benefits has proved to be “grossly unreliable” and cumbersome.
The Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters), which is administered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), was established in March to provide relief to those in formal employment who lost their income due to the Covid-19 lockdown. However, it has taken a lot of time for the benefits to be accessed by the intended beneficiaries, with the UIF blaming employers. A big complaint is that there is too much red tape for employers when applying for Ters benefits. But the labour department has blamed employers for providing inadequate and incomplete applications. On Friday, B4SA’s Robert Legh said they were “perturbed at the suggestion that employers should carry the blame for employees not receiving their Ters benefits timeously, when the administrative system has proven so grossly unreliable”. He described the online application system as “extremely user-unfriendly” and said the UIF call-centre operators were not adequately equipped to resolve many of the often technical queries that came from employers. UIF spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi said on Saturday that the UIF was working with social partners at Nedlac to address their concerns. He claimed that the Ters online application system currently “works perfectly”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
- Read too, Business says labour minister Thulas Nxesi wrong on UIF claims, at Sunday Times
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page