South Africa: UIF Announces Extended Operating Hours

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has announced that selected service points will be open on Saturdays to render services to clients and employers during the month of September.

“A decision to extend operating hours at UIF service points and to ramp up capacity was taken in anticipation of increased demand for real-time services, after the Pretoria High Court at the end of August 2024 issued an interim interdict preventing a service provider from implementing a new contract for support and maintenance services to the uFiling platform,” the Department of Employment and Labour said in a statement.

uFiling is an online platform used by clients and employers to apply for UIF benefits or to register companies with the UIF, declare employees and pay over contributions to the Fund.

The platform is not connected to the main UIF system used to adjudicate and process claims.

“Due to the uFiling platform not having any support or maintenance at this time, its services was suspended. The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has since the suspension of uFiling processed more than 181 000 claims at service points around the country, totalling a pay out of R419 607 185,” the department said.

Extended operating hours will be rendered from 07:30 until 16:00 at UIF service points within labour centres during September month as follows:

· In Gqeberha, East London and Qonce in the Eastern Cape province.

· At the Pietermaritzburg and Richards Bay labour centres in KwaZulu-Natal.

· At the Emalahleni, Secunda, Middleburg, Malelane and Mbombela labour centres in Mpumalanga province.

· At Mahikeng, Potchefstroom, Lichtenburg, Klerksdorp, Vryburg, Christiana, Brits, Taung and Rustenburg labour centre in the North West province.

· Cape Town, Paarl, Mitchells Plain and Bellville in the Western Cape.

Registration of employers

New employer registrations can be done through BizPortal, available on https://www.bizportal.gov.za/services.aspx.

The department has urged its clients to note that BizPortal is only for employer registration and will not be able to register employees. Employee registration can be undertaken at a nearby labour centre.

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Registration can also be done by downloading UI.8 and UI.19 forms from www.labour.gov.za and submitting the completed forms to e-mail address newui8registrations@labour.gov.za.

Declaration of employees

Employers with electronic payroll systems may declare their employees by sending live payroll files to e-mail address Declarations@labour.gov.za or by visiting a nearby labour centre for services.

In case of a manual declarations an employer can download a UI.19 form from www.labour.gov.za and submit a completed form via email to uif.declarations@labour.gov.za.

Regarding contributions, the department said an employer pays contributions to the UIF before the 7th day of each month. Where the 7th day is not a “business day” such as a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, payments must be made on or before the last business day.

“UIF contributions are made up of 2% of an employee’s salary. 1% is deducted from the salary of an employee and 1% contributed by the employer.

“Employers who are registered for tax purposes and/or the Skills Development Levy (SDL), must pay their contributions directly to the South African Revenue Services (SARS),” the department said.

Employers can also pay contributions using bank details provided on the Department of Employment and Labour website www.labour.gov.za and use their UIF reference number as the reference for payment.

“Through queue management, monitoring of operations and staff repurposing the UIF has been able to adequately handle claim volumes around the country. The Fund is confident that by extending working hours it will be able to maintain the status quo whilst developing alternative online solutions for clients and employers,” the department said.

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