I was retrenched in November 2024. I was told my next UIF payout will be the last, but I should have enough credits for eight months.

The long answer

Let’s start with the company changing its name four years after you started working for it: this change of name should have no effect on your UIF payments, as you remained the same employee working for the same employer and continued contributing to the UIF. 

Legal Aid says that the Department of Labour looks at your past four years of work to calculate your UIF benefit. 

I will set out below the way that the Department of Labour says that credit days are calculated:

• Calculating average salary: the last 6 months’ salary prior to the termination date. The salary is capped at the ceiling amount of R17,712 per month.

• Average salary x 12÷365 = daily income (Year 1). 

i.e. R17,712 x 12 / 365 = R582.31 per day.

R582.31 x 38%. = R221.28 per day (daily benefit amount).

• Total benefit amount = daily benefit amount x available credit days

• Credit days are accumulated as follows: for every four days that you work as a contributor, you receive one day’s credit subject to a maximum of 365 credit days.

• Summary: 

Daily benefit amount (DBA) = 66% of income, capped at R17,712 per month.

Total benefit amount = daily benefit amount x available credit days

There is an online UIF calculator available. 

If you are due more credit days than UIF says, you can contact them at the following numbers:

• The call centre number is 0800 843 843.

• The WhatsApp number for UIF is 082 046 8553 where you can talk to a representative. UIF says you can share your reference number, and ID number but warns that you should not share your password or secret code with anyone.

• The number UIF gives to "escalate your complaint" is 0800 030 007.

• To check your UIF status using the USSD platform, dial *134*843# on any mobile phone. This will open a menu with several options to choose from, including claims and payment status, employee registration and payment continuation.

However, these may not resolve the problem. Many people are struggling to access their UIF benefits. In response to a GroundUp article in August 2024 about one person’s very frustrating experience with UIF, a reader wrote the following comment: 

“Reaching out to the call centre results in speaking to polite representatives who are ultimately unable to help. They can only press an escalation button and tell me to wait another 10 days—a process that has repeated itself four times now with no further action. The reality is that the online system simply doesn’t work. The mobile app is entirely non-functional.”

So, although you should start by contacting UIF – and keep a note of the date you phoned, whom you spoke to and what was said – you may also need to ask for help from an organisation like the Black Sash, which gives free paralegal advice. You could approach LegalAid too, which is a means-tested organisation that must assist people who can’t afford a lawyer. 

These are their contact numbers:

• The Black Sash

Email: help@blacksash.org.za and info@blacksash.org.za

Tel (national office): 021 686 6952

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

• Legal Aid 

Email: communications2@legal-aid.co.za 

Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm)

Please Call Me: 079 835 7179

Wishing you the best,
Athalie