BL Premium reports that after months of discussions and debate over continued social and economic relief, President Cyril Ramaphosa advised on Thursday in his state of the nation address that the government would extend the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) until 15 March 2021 for those sectors that had not been able to operate.  

Also, the special Covid-19 social relief of distress grant aimed at unemployed people who receive no other form of government assistance will be extended for a further three months.  Ters is funded by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).  The conditions of the extension and the sectors to be included will be announced after consultations with social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).  To date, the UIF has paid out just more than R57bn to more than 4.5-million workers.  Social partners at Nedlac have been negotiating with the UIF about the extension of the Ters benefit for sectors affected by the recent lockdown regulations, including the alcohol and hospitality sectors, as well as workers older than 60 or with comorbidities.  The UIF on Wednesday said it was looking at “all possible legal options to assist workers, and this forms part of the matters being looked at”.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Genevieve Quintal at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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