UIF SYSTEM FAILURES

Ongoing issues despite assurances

Dear employer

Despite confirmation from the Minister of Employment and Labour that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) online system is fully functional, employers and employees continue to face severe challenges. The supposed restoration of the system has not translated into practical, operational functionality, leaving employers struggling to fulfill their compliance obligations and employees from accessing essential benefits.

Claims submitted via UFiling are only reaching the initial acknowledgment phase, with essential follow-up stages - such as uploading documents for maternity, illness, and unemployment claims - remaining inaccessible. Payment requests experience the same bottleneck, showing no progress beyond initial receipt, resulting in delayed payments and unresolved claims. Further complications persist within the system’s processes for declarations, employer registrations, and UFiling profiles, where information captured often fails to save, activation emails are delayed, and profile submissions are frequently rejected.

For unemployed claimants, the situation is even more critical: claims left inactive for 90 days are automatically marked as finalised, forcing many to start the entire application process again. Labour Offices may appear less congested, but this is largely due to the misconception that the online system is now fully operational.

We will keep stakeholders abreast of developments in this regard.

For more information

NEASA Media Department

media@neasa.co.za