sassa for april 2024-2025
sassa for april 2024-2025
The Sassa payment schedule for April 2024-2025 is detailed on this page.
No R350 grants were paid in April and May, Sassa admits
Payments made under the social relief of distress grant program have been halted while the government implements a new procedure. 10.6 million applications for the grant’s latest round have been submitted. Sassa expects to resume grant payments in mid-June.
- The 10.6 million people who applied for the new round of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant beginning on April 1 have yet to receive payments for April and May.
- The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) plans to start making payments in the middle of June after other social grants have been distributed. The grant’s availability was increased in the February budget, and it is now valid through March 2023.
- The delay was brought on by the Department of Social Development’s choice to implement a means test for the grant’s next phase. Even if it comes from a family member, anyone making R350 or more per month will be ineligible. Sassa had to sign new contracts with banks, who will check bank accounts for income, in order to implement the test, though.
The department and Sassa stated in a presentation to Parliament last week:
“To enable the means testing, Sassa needed to procure the services of banks. This process was completed in the previous year, but required the concurrence of the minister of finance, before concluding the contracts. The concurrence from the minister of finance was received on 30 April 2022. The concurrence, however, contained additional conditions, which the bank’s legal services had to work through, resulting in delays in concluding the contracts.”
- The means test, which was previously very lax and only disqualified those who were employed, is intended to ensure that the grant reaches the most vulnerable members of society. The SRD received R44 billion from the February budget, which is enough to cover 10.5 million people’s needs in terms of services. The department did state that more applicants were expected this time around.
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