UIF - Unemployment Insurance Fund - The maternity claim that may never end

I submitted my maternity UIF claim in February 2022. Submitted all my documentation and received regular updates on the Ufiling portal. On 26 February my application status read : Not approved/refused.

I called in to the call centre to ask what this means and was told by the consultant that there are outstanding documents that are required before they can continue with my claim. I received the list and I sent everything through. I received multiple e-mails that my documents were received and with the assessors. I was told by the call centre consultants that my claim has not been refused and that it is still in progress.

At the start of August I was informed that I need to re-submit all of my documents (after following up weekly from the month of February). I did this and received confirmation e-mails that my documents have been captured and are being assessed. I was told that it would take 35 working days to receive an outcome and that I must please follow up on a weekly basis.

After the 35 working days passed I phoned again, every single week, to be told that my application is still with the assessors and that I need to just keep phoning every week, which I did.

Yesterday, one of the consultants informed me that my claim has been refused for the past 8 months and that he cannot understand why no one could share this information with me. 8 months of phoning every single week and no one could tell me that it was refused, they lied to me every time I phoned.

I submitted an appeal yesterday - I saw during my appeal submission that appeals are supposed to be submitted within 90 days of refusal - 8 months have passed. I phoned after my appeal submission to find out what the reason was for the refusal - NO ONE can tell me why my claim was refused - the consultant said it looked like MAYBE my declaration for September 2021 (the month I went on maternity leave) was outstanding. I went to my employer and accountants and received the proof that my declarations are indeed up to date.

I phoned this morning again and was informed that they still do not know the reason for the refusal and will make a 'note'. Every single consultant that I have spoken to the last 8 months have been making 'notes' - urgent notes, follow up notes etc. so I do not think that this 'note' requesting feedback will give me any feedback.

I made a large amount of debt so that I can go on maternity leave and still continue to pay my debt obligations and feed my family while I was not receiving an income with the knowledge that my UIF claim will relieve the load when it finally pays out however I have been met with nothing but untruthful consultants this whole year and quite honestly I think it is extremely unethical to do this to someone.

Please advise to whom I can escalate this matter of negligence and misconduct to? I will not rest until I know why my claim was refused - I have been contributing to the UIF fund since my first employment.

If you can please get back to me, I would really appreciate it.