The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) recently announced that manual UI-19 forms would no longer be accepted by labour centers in Gauteng from 1 October 2022. The Payroll Authors Group of South Africa (PAGSA) immediately notified the Fund of the extensive difficulties, uncertainty, and confusion experienced by payroll suppliers and employers resulting from the discontinuation notice, and also pointed out the lack of a credible alternative solution. After discussions with the Fund, the UI-19 discontinuation notice has been withdrawn with effect from 21 October 2022.

PAGSA requested the revival of technical discussions that took place during 2016 and 2017 to update the E03 declaration specification that payrolls must obey when creating the monthly declaration file with a view to modernising the requirements as well as providing the additional employee data that the Fund needs in order to fulfil its legal mandate. They also requested the creation of a practical and credible solution to replace the UIF E-Compliance Certificate online system that was introduced towards the end of January 2021.

The E-CC system was withdrawn during a discussion with the PAGSA and other parties on 11 April 2022, after the submission of a report detailing the weaknesses of the system and the resulting negative impact on business and the economy in general. The PAGSA will provide updates as more information becomes available.

The UIF apologises to clients, employers, and stakeholders for any inconvenience caused by the circular and assures clients that it will continue accepting the submission of manual UI-19 forms at all labour centres. Clients are also encouraged to visit https://ufiling.labour.gov.za/uif/ to submit their Unemployment, Illness, Maternity, and Adoption benefit claims. Employers can also use uFiling to declare their workers, including foreign employees, and pay monthly contributions.

If and when the Fund considers going fully paperless, the decision will be communicated by the UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, after thorough consultations with clients, employers, and critical stakeholders. The Fund remains committed to rendering excellent services.

For more information, visit https://www.pagsa.org.za/2023/06/10/nf-2022-47-uif-notice-retraction-of-manual-ui-19-discontinuation/.

NOTICE ENDS.

Annexure: Unemployment Insurance Act Section 56 requires every employer to provide the Commissioner with information regarding its employees, including the names, identification numbers, and monthly remuneration of each employee, and the address at which the employee is employed. Employers must provide this information before the seventh day of each month.