The unemployment insurance fund known as the UIF has increased its payment after the COVID-19 period. This has made lots of people want to know more about the UIF and how they can get in, seeing the benefits that lots of people received then.

The UIF has registered over 20,000 persons and they are currently waiting for more. This scheme is meant for those that are in the workforce both domestic and commercial employees and they must contribute 1% monthly to the scheme. The UIF has been able to provide benefits for those who have been in the categories that they have listed and all you have to do to benefit from this is contribute.

The UIF has increased its contribution as was stated by the government, this was put in place so that contributors can earn more and be able to benefit well. It does not matter if your salary is small everyone is entitled to contribute to the UIF scheme and this is the law of the government. As of 1 June 2021, the maximum earnings ceiling for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is R17 712 per month or R212 544 annually.

For employees who earn more than this amount, the contribution is calculated using the maximum earnings ceiling amount. Therefore the maximum contribution which can be deducted, for employees who earn more than R17 712 per month, is R177, 12 per month. Excess amounts shouldn’t be included as remuneration for UIF contributions.

Every employer has been tasked with the responsibility of making sure that their employees are registered on the UIF platform and contributing monthly. Once you receive your monthly salary, your employer deducts your 1% and he/she also pays 1% as well so that makes it 2%  which is contributed to the fund.

Once you qualify for any of the benefits that have been designed by the UIF you are entitled to receive about 38-58% of your salary in eight weeks after submitting your application claim. There are supporting documents that are needed for you to be able to process that claims. If you are applying for unemployment, death, maternity leave, adoption or illness benefits everyone has their supporting documents and you should get to know about each of them as you are likely to fall into any of the categories.

There are rules that the UIF have stated that you need to follow and one of them is to avoid fraud because if you are involved in fraud or any misconduct in your workplace and you get sacked you are not entitled to receive any benefit from the UIF. If you can follow the rules then you are good to go. You can ask questions about the UIF fund by making calls or visiting the nearest labour office as they are ready to provide you with every information that you need.

What is the Maximum UIF Payment?

The UIF makes a monthly payout once you apply until you have used up all the benefits allocated to you. The UIF pays about 38-58% of your salary monthly and you are entitled to receive about R6 430 or more from the UIF depending on how long you have been contributing to the scheme.

There are cases in the UIF system where employers work for more than one company, well the UIF has solved this problem by adding all of this to their policies and ensuring that every individual will receive their claim. It is important you know more about the UIF and various things that are needed, there are some rules that you need to know about the UIF that is important and beneficial to you. Knowing more about the UIF will save you from lots of future stress.

Section 5 of the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act states that every employer and employee must contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, provided that it applies to them. This means that UIF is calculated per source of income. Therefore, if an employee works for multiple employers, they must pay UIF with each employer, even though the cap may be reached with one employer.

For example, if an employee works at two different companies and each company pays them R20 000, they will contribute R177.12 per month to the UIF from each salary (i.e. a total of R354.24 would be contributed per month). Their contribution is not limited to a cap of R177.12 across all sources of income.  If the employee were to become retrenched with both companies, they would be able to claim UIF in respect of their employment at both companies which means that they will be able to receive two benefits payments.

Registering for the UIF can be done online and offline. The registration will have to be carried out by your employer with his reference number. As an employer, once you register for the UIF you will be given a reference number that can be used to register your employees. All your employee’s UIF must be linked with that reference number as you will be the one in charge of making their monthly contributions to the UIF.

If any employee wants to apply for benefits or claims, they can check out their UIF by login on to the uFiling platform and they can see the status of claims on that platform and see the documents that can be used to apply for claims. You must know how to apply for claims on the UIF when you need it. Have all documents ready and then you are good to go.

Finally

We have given every information you need to know about the maximum UIF payment. Once you have an idea of the UIF, you are good to go. The UIF is known to have massive improvements to the system so that many can benefit from the scheme. Once you can register and be part of the UIF scheme, you are good to go.