UIF Notice: Manual UI-19 Discontinued
The Unemployment Insurance Fund has today made available via their call center an undated notice that states that from 1 October 2022, all Gauteng Labour Centers will no longer accept manual UI-19 forms that update employee information, usually for the purposes of claiming a UIF benefit.
The notice was not discussed with the PAGSA, can’t (at this stage) be found on the UIF website, and was sent to me today by one of our members.
At the time of writing this Newsflash, the Fund has not yet replied to the urgent email sent by the PAGSA today to senior UIF officials querying the implementation of the requirements of this notice.
UIF Notice: Page 1
The 2-page notice is of very poor quality and difficult to read. On page 1 it states:

The above sentence starting with “Every employer … in terms of subsection (1)” is copied from section 56(3) of the Unemployment Insurance Act.
The words “all information” in the above sentence are confusing in that it is not certain what is being referred to.
Is it the detailed information that is specified in the E03 specification that payrolls obey when creating the employee declaration file every month, or is it the subset of that information that is specified by regulation for the UI-19 form?
The full section 56 is included in the appendix to this newsflash for your convenience.
Quite how section 56 of the Unemployment Insurance Act empowers the UI “Management” that issued the notice to discontinue the manual UI-19 is uncertain, but more important is to determine what to do from 1 October 2022.
Lastly, note the reference to “all Gauteng Labour Centers”.
Again, one can only take the notice at its face value – Gauteng Labour Centers will no longer accept UI-19’s from 1 October 2022, but Labour Centers in the rest of the country will accept UI-19’s, at least for the foreseeable future.
UIF Notice: Page 2
The second page of the notice contains a very poor copy of Chapter 1 of the ‘uFiling System User Guide’ containing three steps to assist employers to register for uFiling.

This Guide can presumably be found on the Fund’s website.
While this is not stated, one can only assume that the purpose of the UIF Notice is to notify all employers that are not registered for uFiling, to register as soon as possible (or at least prior to wanting to modify or update employee information by manual UI-19), as this facility will no longer be available.
As soon as more information becomes available, you will be updated.

Regards,

Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.

Annexure: Unemployment Insurance Act Section 56
56.   Information to be supplied by employer.—
(1)  Every employer must, as soon as it commences activities as an employer, provide the information referred to in subsection (2) regarding its employees to the Commissioner, irrespective of the earnings of such employees.
(2)  The information contemplated in subsection (1) must—
(a) include the street address of the business, and any of its branches, of the employer;
(b) if the employer is not resident in the Republic, or is a body corporate not registered in the Republic, include the particulars of the authorised person who is required to carry out the duties of the employer in terms of this Act; and
(c) include the names, identification numbers and monthly remuneration of each of its employees, and must state the address at which the employee is employed.
(3)  Every employer must, before the seventh day of each month, provide the Commissioner with all information for the previous month in terms of subsection (1).
(3A)  The Minister will issue regulations on a special dispensation applicable to domestic employers and small businesses or enterprises regarding the submission of information in subsection (3).
(4)  The Commissioner may request the employer to provide such additional particulars as may reasonably be required to give effect to the purpose of this Act within 30 days of the request, or within such extended period as the Commissioner may allow.