The COVID-19 Temporary Employers/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) will be extended to August, announced Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi.

The Minister made the announcement when she led a debate on the department’s budget vote via a virtual National Assembly mini-plenary yesterday (July 21), according to a report from the government’s news agency.

She said the benefit structure and existing criteria would remain the same, and applications for April and May would be closed by the end of July, although applications already received for those two months would be processed, the government news agency reported.

The Minister also said the UIF was revamping its call centre to respond better to clients’ queries. “In the last week, I can report reliably that the call answer rate has improved from 88% to 97%, reflecting an improved average speed to answer calls to 26 seconds.”