What Are Social Grants?
Social Grants are in place to help improve the living standards in society of people who are vulnerable to poverty and need state support. These generally include older people, people with disabilities, and people with young children.
For a developing country, South Africa has a well-established social welfare system and a large proportion of social spending goes towards social grants. More than 18 million social grants are paid monthly.
Social Grants are in place to improve standards of living and redistribute wealth to create a more equitable society. Sections 24 through 29 of the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution recognize the socio-economic rights of citizens, including the right to social security. The government is obligated to progressively realize these rights, meaning that “the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of the right.”
Social grants are administered by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA). SASSA is mandated by the South African Social Security Agency Act of 2004 to “ensure the provision of comprehensive social security services against vulnerability and poverty within the constitutional legislative framework”.
The Social Assistance Act of 2004 and regulations of the act provide the legal framework for the administration of seven social grants. Grants are targeted at categories of people who are vulnerable to poverty and in need of state support. These are older people, people with disabilities, and children. Also, the Social Relief of Distress award provides immediate temporary assistance to people in dire need of financial support and is given to people in the form of vouchers, food parcels, or money for a three-month period.
How Many Social Grants In South Africa?
Applicants for social grants must be South African citizens, permanent residents, or refugees and currently living in South Africa.
Grants available include:
Child Support Grant
Child Support Grant increased to R500 on 1 April 2023 and will rise to R510 in October 2023.
A top-up of the grant is available to assist caregivers in providing for an orphan’s basic needs. The top-up is R250 as of 1 April 2023, but there will be no further increase on 1 October 2023. This means the maximum Child Support Grant is R720 per child, per month.
To receive this grant you must be the primary caregiver of a child who also lives with you in South Africa. You must be a South African Citizen, permanent resident or refugee. If you are not the biological parent of the child, you must provide proof of your primary caregiver status. This can be an affidavit from a police official, a social worker’s report, an affidavit from the biological parent of the child, or a letter from the school principal of the child.
Children must be under the age of 18. Children must not be cared for in a state institution. You cannot apply for more than six non-biological or legally adopted children.
In order to qualify for the grant you need to meet the requirements of the means test. If you are single you must not earn more than R57,600 per year (R4,800 per month) and if you are married, your combined income must not be more than R115,200 per year (R9,600 per month). These amounts are as of October 2022.
Care Dependency Grant
The Care Dependency Grant increased to R2,080 in April 2023 and will increase to R2,090 in October 2023.
The Care Dependency Grant is given to caregivers of children with disabilities. The child must be found permanently and severely medically disabled by a medical officer and must be under the age of 18. The child cannot be cared for in a state institution.
In order to qualify for the grant you need to meet the requirements of the means test. If you are single, you must not earn more than R238,800 per year (R19,900 per month) and if you are married your household cannot earn more than R477,600 per year (R39,800).
Foster Child Grant
The Foster Care Grant increased on 1 April to R1,120 and will increase again to R1,130 in October 2023.
To meet the requirements for this grant both you and the child you care for must live in South Africa. The child must be under the age of 18 years old and there must be a court order indicating that you have been designated the foster carer for the child.
There is no means test for foster parents. The child must remain in the care of the foster parent.
Disability Grant
The grant increased to R2,080 in April 2023 and will again to 2,090 in October 2023. The grant value works on a sliding scale – higher-earning applicants will receive a smaller amount.
In order to qualify for this grant you must be between the age of 18 and 59 years. You must be found medically unfit for work by a medical officer because of a mental or physical disability. The grant is available on a permanent or temporary basis for between six and twelve months. When your temporary grant expires and you have not recovered sufficiently to return to work you will need to apply for the grant again. Your permanent grant can be reviewed in order to assess whether you are in fact still disabled.
In order to qualify for the grant, you need to meet the requirements of the means test. If you are single your income cannot be more than R92,520 per year (R7,710 per month) and your assets cannot be worth more than R1,313,400. If you are married your combined income cannot exceed R185,440 (R15,420 per month) and combined assets can be no more than R2,626,800.
Grant-in-Aid
The value of Grant-in-Aid increased by R20 from R480 to R500 in April 2023 and will increase by a further R10 to total R510 in October 2023.
If you are living on a social grant but can’t look after yourself you can get an additional grant to pay the person who takes full-time care of you.
The Grant-in-Aid is an extra grant for people receiving disabilities, older persons, or war veterans who, because of their mental or physical disabilities, are unable to look after themselves and need to pay a full-time caregiver. In order to receive this grant, you will need to be assessed by a medical officer. You cannot receive this grant if you are being cared for in a state institution.
Older Persons Grant (Old Age Pension)
The maximum value of the Older Persons Grant is R2,080 as of April 2023 and will increase to R2,090 in October 2023 for people between 60 and 74 years old. For those over the age of 75, the grant is R2,100 and will increase to R2,110 in October 2023.
You can apply for this grant if you are 60 years or older. You cannot be a recipient of other grants, and you must not be under the care of a state institution.
In order to qualify for the grant, you need to meet the requirements of the means test. If you are single your income cannot be more than R92,520 per year (R7,710 per month) and your assets cannot be worth more than R1,313,400. If you are married your combined income cannot exceed R185,040 (R15,420 per month) and combined assets can be no more than R2,626,800. (Values as of October 2022.)
War Veteran’s Grant
The maximum value of the grant is currently R2,100 (as of April 2023) and will increase to R2,110 in October 2023.
To qualify for this grant you must have fought in World War II or the Korean War. You must also be over the age of 60 or disabled. You cannot be a recipient of other grants and must not be cared for in a state institution.
In order to qualify for the grant you need to meet the requirements of the means test. If you are single your income cannot be more than R87,720 per year (R7,310 per month) and your assets cannot be worth more than R1,247,400. If you are married your combined income cannot exceed R175,440 (R14,620 per month) and combined assets can be no more than R2,494,800. (Values as of April 2022.)
Social Relief of Distress
Social relief of distress is temporary assistance for people in the following situations:
- You need help while you wait for your children’s grants to be processed
- A crisis or disaster has occurred (e.g. your house has burnt down)
- You do not qualify for a grant, and you are in a desperate situation
- You are disabled for a period of less than six months and therefore not eligible for a disability grant
- You are unable to get maintenance from the other parent of your child or children
- The breadwinner in the family has died
- The breadwinner has been sent to prison for a short time (less than six months)
- You have been affected by a disaster, but the area or community in which you live has not been declared a disaster area.
Social Relief of Distress is issued monthly for a maximum period of three months. An extension of a further three months may be granted in exceptional cases. You cannot apply for this grant if you are already the recipient of a different grant.