Does a provident fund claim expire?

In theory it does not prescribe; however the money will be transferred to an unclaimed benefits fund in due course, and the fund rules may provide that the amount is written back after a set period (although National Treasury wants to prohibit this). However, even then, you can still claim your money. The biggest problem is finding out who administers the unclaimed benefits fund that holds your provident fund. Over time, this information may get lost, as former employers disappear (company close or get bought out by other companies) and fund administrators merge, or change their name etc, so the information trail is lost.