Urgent update: COVID-19 Temporary Employer / Employee Relief Scheme (“TERS”)

by Jacques van Wyk, Director; Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate; and Thabisa Yantolo, Candidate Attorney

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF“) are accepting June Covid-19 TERS applications on their online portal. The online portal may be accessed at: https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/. The online portal provides new login rules which are aimed at preventing issues for users logging into the portal.

On 14 July, the Department of Employment and Labour published a statement in which the UIF announced that they have introduced new measures for account verification in order to eliminate fraud. These measures include a new rule that requires applicants on the TERS online portal to insert either the Enterprise number (CK/CIPC) or the ID number of the bank account holder. The purpose of this new rule is to further verify the banking details against the authorised claimant. The UIF Commissioner stated that they expect that the upfront account verification and validation prior to payment will increase the turnaround time by two days.

The full published statement may be accessed at: https://www.gov.za/speeches/employment-and-labour-measures-bank-account-verification-eliminate-fraud-14-jul-2020-0000.