sassa grants for april 2023-2024

While the government develops a new procedure, social alleviation of distress award payments has been suspended. 10.6 million applications for the grant’s latest round have been submitted.

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:

“To enable the means testing, Sassa required to hire the services of banks. Although this process was finished the year before, the contracts couldn’t be signed without the finance minister’s approval. On April 30, 2022, the finance minister’s approval was received. However, the concurrence had additional requirements that the bank’s legal department had to work through, which caused delays in the contracts’ completion.

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