SCDEW Update - April 16, 2020

Quick Facts: 

•  87,686 people filed for UI during claim week ending April 11 (Sunday April 5 – Saturday April 11).
• The agency has processed 268,614 claims in the 4 weeks since the pandemic began. This is a 4,293.09% increase from the claim week ending March 14, 2020.
• $114 million has been paid in $600 FPUC/CARES Act benefits AND regular South Carolinas UI benefits from Sunday-Tuesday of this week alone. This is before the additional funds for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) have even reached the state.
• We have been able to surge our call center staff from 46 customer service representative to 292 and more staff are being trained and added to the phones each day. We are continuing to train and anticipate bringing that number to more than 500 CSR’s by end of next week.
• While call center hours for incoming calls – 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday – have not changed, staff continue to work extended hours each week day and through weekends making outbound calls. These call backs respond to individuals captured in the queue and those whose claims require follow up from a claims specialist.
•  A chat bot feature has been added to the website to help answer unemployment and COVID-related questions. More details will be released soon on this.

Also attached is the most recent FAQ sheet that should help answer the majority of questions you might receive. This document and other resources will be updated frequently on SCDEW's  website.