SATSA has advised that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Temporary Employee Relief Scheme appeal process is now open.
The inbound industry association, in conjunction with the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has been working on addressing the multiple rejections for TERS funds on behalf of its members and the industry in general.
SATSA COO, Hannelie du Toit, explained that members’ applications had been rejected due to issues with South African Revenue Service Sector Categories/SIC (Standard Industry Classification) codes.
“The situation with the SIC Codes, as well as a number of proposals to remedy the situation, was discussed at the latest Nedlac UIF Task Team meeting,” said Du Toit.
She said the challenge was that the UIF must be able to verify that the business actually operated in the tourism industry.
According to Du Toit, the appeals process is done through the UIF Call Centre and no email addresses will be used for the process. “The call centre is very busy, but please just keep trying and eventually you will get through,” Du Toit said.
The steps to follow are:
- Apply as normal and if declined, please contact UIF Call Centre on 0800 030 007.
- Applicants will be subjected to an authentication process.
- A link will be sent for applicants to upload docs (form & supporting docs). Please click here to access the form.
- The documents will be transferred to UIF and officials will then review and assess.
- A decision will be made to accept or decline within approximately five working days.
- Once approved, applicants will receive notification via email and they then have 72 hours to go back to the normal UIF portal to relodge the claim.
- To re-lodge a claim, applicants log onto the portal and select their business activity (as per the previous steps).
- On the main division sector, select OTHER (APPROVED APPEALS) and the system will allow applicants to proceed further.
