UIF for domestic workers, step by step (2026)

UIF is the one piece of domestic-worker admin that is easy to put off and expensive to fix later. If your worker is ever retrenched, falls pregnant or is too ill to work, UIF is what pays her - but only if you registered her and paid in. This guide walks through it from the beginning.

Step 1: Check that UIF applies

Domestic workers have been covered by UIF since 1 April 2003. The test is simple:

• She works for you more than 24 hours a month - roughly one full day a week or more. Then you must register her.
• If she works for several households, each employer who employs her for more than 24 hours a month registers and contributes separately.
• Whether she is paid weekly or monthly, lives in or out, makes no difference.

Not sure about the hours? Monthly hours = hours per week x 4.33. Six hours a week is already 26 hours a month.

Step 2: Register yourself as a domestic employer

Households do not deal with SARS for UIF. Unless you already run a payroll registered with SARS for PAYE or SDL, you register and pay directly with the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and the easiest route is uFiling, the Department of Employment and Labour's online system:

1. Go to www.ufiling.co.za and register a user profile with your own ID number, email address and cellphone number.
2. Choose to register as an employer of a domestic worker.
3. Add your details as the employer and your worker's details (below).
4. uFiling gives you a UIF reference number. Keep it - every declaration and payment uses it.

If you cannot use uFiling, a labour centre of the Department of Employment and Labour can register you on paper. Take your ID and your worker's ID.

Step 3: Declare your worker

For each worker you need:

• Her full name and South African ID number (or passport number for a foreign national).
• Her start date with you.
• Her hours and her monthly (or weekly) pay.

This is the same information that goes on the UI-19 form - the employee declaration. When her pay or hours change, update it.

Step 4: Work out the 1% + 1% each month

Contributions are 1% of her gross pay from her, and 1% from you, on earnings up to R17,712 a month. Gross pay includes overtime and Sunday or public holiday pay for that month.

Our free UIF calculator does this for any wage, weekly or monthly; the CalcSA UIF contributions calculator is a quick cross-check. Show the 1% deduction on her payslip - our payslip maker puts it there for you.

Step 5: Declare and pay by the 7th

Every month, on uFiling:

1. Submit the monthly declaration for the month just worked: her gross pay and the contribution.
2. Pay the 2% by EFT or debit order, using your UIF reference number as the payment reference.
3. Do both by the 7th of the following month - October's contribution is due by 7 November.

Late or missing payments attract a penalty of up to 10% of the unpaid amount plus interest, under the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act. More importantly, months you did not declare may not count when she claims. Set a monthly reminder or a debit order - the HomeHR to-do list puts "UIF declare + pay" on the right date for you.

Step 6: When she leaves

Whether she resigns, is retrenched or the job simply ends, you must:

• Give her a completed UI-19 form showing her employment dates, pay and the reason for leaving.
• Give her a certificate of service (required by the BCEA for every employee leaving).
• Update uFiling so her record shows the end date.

She then claims at a labour centre or online. Claims for unemployment benefits must be made within 12 months of the job ending, so hand the forms over promptly.

What UIF pays her

Paying in earns her credits: one day of benefits for every five days worked, up to a maximum of 365 days over four years. She can claim for:

• Unemployment - when her employment ends, including when she is dismissed or her contract ends. Resignation usually does not qualify.
• Illness - if she is off sick for more than 14 days.
• Maternity - while she is on maternity leave (the BCEA allows four months' unpaid maternity leave).
• Dependants - paid to her family if she dies.

Benefits are a percentage of her past earnings on a sliding scale, higher for lower earners. The CalcSA UIF benefits calculator estimates what she would receive.

Common mistakes

• Waiting until she needs to claim. Back-paying years of contributions is possible but comes with penalties, and the claim is delayed while it is sorted out.
• Only paying your 1%. Her 1% must also be deducted and paid over. If you choose not to deduct it from her, you still pay the full 2%.
• Forgetting overtime. UIF is on everything she earned that month, not just the base wage.
• Not giving the UI-19 when she leaves. Without it her claim stalls.

UIF is only one of two registrations for a household employer. The other is COIDA, for injuries at work - see what a domestic worker really costs in 2026 for what it adds to the bill.

General information, not legal advice. Every figure we use is on the rates page with its source.