Grant hikes for South Africa this week – and government plans to extend coverage

Social Development minister Lindiwe Zulu has gazetted new grant increases for South Africa.

The increases, which were announced by the National Treasury as part of its February budget, take effect from 1 April, with another small adjustment for some grants taking effect on 1 October 2022.

The department has been allocated R1 trillion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period to facilitate access to social grants and welfare services to reduce poverty and inequality, protect children, and empower women, youth and people with disabilities.

From April, old age and disability grants will increase to R1,985 from R1,890 (5%). In the same period, grants for persons over the age of 75 and war veterans will rise to R2,005 from the current R1,910 (5%).

Also with a 5% increase, care dependency will rise from R1,890 to R1,985 (5%). With a 1.9% increment, the foster care grant will see the lowest adjustment, rising from the current R1,050 to R1,070 (1.9%).

With a 5% increase, care dependency will go from R1,890 to R1,985 (5%). Child support will increase to R480 from the current R460 (4.3%).

The full list of increases and changes is outlined in more detail below.

The Department of Social Development plans to make a number of changes to South Africa’s grant system in the coming year – including extending support to more vulnerable groups.

The changes are outlined in the department’s annual performance plan for 2022/2023 which was published in March.

“Ongoing policy development will continue, particularly address very specific social security coverage gaps in relation to pregnant and lactating women, and institutional mechanisms and the cost thereof, to crowd in all government interventions to address the social protection needs of children, using the social grants as an entry point,” the department said.

The department also aims to amend the Social Assistance Act, SASSA Act and the Fund-Raising Act to address existing gaps and inconsistencies in the legislation.

Specifically, the amendment to the Social Assistance Act aims to introduce a provision to empower the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, to augment the child support grant benefit provided to orphaned children residing with relatives.

This is intended to reduce the demand on the foster child system, by reducing the number of children entering the foster care system purely to access the foster child grant due to the large differential in value between this grant and the child support grant, it said.

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