Inspection and Enforcement Services Programme Summary

The Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) programme aims to realize decent work by regulating employment and non-employment conditions through inspection and enforcement, ensuring compliance with all labour market policies. Key objectives include conducting over 298,104 compliance inspections, serving notices to 95% of non-compliant employers within 14 days, referring 65% of non-compliant employers for prosecution, and increasing awareness of employment law through formal advocacy at 4 seminars and 2 conferences.

The IES programme comprises several subprogrammes, including Management and Support Services for administration and corporate support, Occupational Health and Safety for workplace safety inspections, and Registration for logging employment law-related incidents. Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Services ensures adherence to labour legislation, while Training of Staff covers all related expenditures. Statutory and Advocacy Services provides legislative enforcement and educates stakeholders on labour laws. IES provides ongoing advocacy, inspections, enforcement, and registration services, actively seeking innovative practices to improve delivery.

Over the medium-term, the IES programme aims for improved compliance in workplaces and enhanced protection for vulnerable workers across all sectors. This involves ensuring employers register and contribute to UIF and CF, workers receive due payments, and workplaces are healthy and safe, thereby transforming the labour market. The programme anticipates conducting 924,122 employer inspections at a projected cost of R1.6 billion and will continue implementing a case management system in 2025/26 for modernised business processes. The Department plans to strengthen enforcement, aiming for 65% of non-compliant employers to be referred for prosecution within 30 days, increasing to 70% over the MTEF period, and serving 95% of non-compliant employers with legal notices within 14 days, increasing to 97%.

The IES programme faces challenges such as high vacancy rates in certain provinces, limited training funds for inspectors, and the impact of increasing petrol prices and inflation on goods and services. The ability to access employers often relies on resources like vehicles and fuel, which require adequate funding. Despite these challenges, the IES Branch emphasizes capitalizing on strengths, innovation, and utilizing 4IR technologies to improve services. The programme is allocated R2.1 billion of the Department's budget over the medium term, increasing at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent, from R661.173 million in 2024/25 to R735.4 million in 2027/28.