sassa april 2023-2024

Payments made under the social relief of suffering award have been halted while the government creates a new system. The most recent round of the grant has received 10.6 million applications.

Sassa anticipates starting award payments again in mid-June.

Payments for April and May have not yet been made to the 10.6 million applicants who submitted applications for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) award in the new round that started on April 1.
After distributing other social funds, the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) intends to begin issuing payments in the middle of June. The grant’s duration has been extended to March 2023 thanks to an increase in its availability in the February budget.
The Department of Social Development’s decision to introduce a means test for the grant’s subsequent phase of administration caused the delay. Anyone earning R350 or more a month, even if it comes from a family member, will not be eligible. However, in order to put the test into action, Sassa has to establish new contracts with banks who will check bank accounts for income.

In a presentation made to Parliament last week, the department and Sassa said:

“Sassa needed to hire banks’ services in order to make the means testing possible. Despite the fact that this process had been completed the year before, the contracts could not be signed without the consent of the finance minister. The finance minister’s clearance was obtained on April 30, 2022. The execution of the contracts was delayed, however, because the agreement had extra conditions that the bank’s legal department had to sort through.

The means test, which was formerly very lenient and only disqualified individuals who were employed, is intended to ensure that the award reaches the most vulnerable segments of society. The SRD received R44 billion from the February budget, which is adequate to cover 10.5 million people’s needs in terms of services. The department did state that more candidates were expected this time around.

SOCIAL GRANTS