The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has issued a notice stating that from 1 October 2022, all Gauteng Labour Centers will no longer accept manual UI-19 forms for updating employee information. It is unclear what is meant by “all information” in the notice, but it is assumed to refer to the subset of information specified by regulation for the UI-19 form. The notice was not discussed with the Payroll Authors Group of South Africa (PAGSA) and cannot be found on the UIF website. The PAGSA has sent an urgent email to senior UIF officials to query the implementation of the notice, but has not yet received a reply.

The second page of the notice contains a poor copy of Chapter 1 of the uFiling System User Guide, which presumably aims to encourage employers to register for uFiling in order to update employee information. It is uncertain how section 56 of the Unemployment Insurance Act empowers the UIF “Management” to discontinue the manual UI-19. However, it is important to determine what to do from 1 October 2022. The notice only applies to Gauteng Labour Centers, and it is assumed that Labor Centers in the rest of the country will continue to accept UI-19 forms.

For more information, visit https://www.pagsa.org.za/2023/06/10/nf-2022-45-uif-notice-manual-ui-19-discontinued/.

Disclaimer: All information provided by PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.

Annexure: Unemployment Insurance Act Section 56
Section 56 of the Unemployment Insurance Act requires every employer to provide information regarding its employees to the Commissioner, including the street address of the business, the particulars of the authorized person, and the names, identification numbers, and monthly remuneration of each employee. Employers must provide this information before the seventh day of each month. The Commissioner may request additional information as needed.