Social grants to increase

All social grants, barring the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, will increase in the next financial year.

This is according to the 2026 Budget Review released by National Treasury on Wednesday.

The grant increases are as follows:

• Old age grant will increase from R2 315 to R2 400.
• War veterans grant will increase from R2 335 to R2 420.
• Disability grant will go up from R2 315 to R2 400.
• Foster care grant rises from R1 250 to R1 295.
• Care dependency grant will increase from R2 315 to R2 400.
• Child support grant will go up from R560 to R580.
• The grant-in-aid will increase from R560 to R580.

The SRD grant will remain at R370, with payments to continue until next year.

“Social grants constitute the largest share of spending on social development. Excluding the [SRD] grant, spending increases from R246.6 billion in 2025/26 to R276.5 billion in 2028/29. The social relief of distress grant is allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend payments until 31 March 2027 at the current R370 per month per beneficiary.

“The social grant allocation has been adjusted down over the medium-term in line with a lower inflation outlook and improved grant targeting and verification, which is expected to yield savings of R2 billion in 2026/27 and R1 billion in 2027/28,” the department said.

The Social Development function’s overall budget will increase by some 4.2%, rising from R412.2 billion in 2025/26 to R466.4 billion in 2028/29.

“This supports poverty reduction by providing social grants, risk benefits through social insurance and welfare services. It also funds development initiatives, empowerment programmes, gender equality efforts, and advocacy for children, women, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities,” the budget review read.

Tightening controls

National Treasury reported that the 2025/26 allocation for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) was made conditional on the agency “improving biometric and income verification processes, undertaking more frequent eligibility reviews for social grants, and implementing other measures to tighten compliance”.

“By December 2025, the agency had checked the bank accounts of about six million clients and eight million credit bureau clients. These checks flagged 291 581 grant beneficiaries for review.

“As a result of the review process and strict implementation of the sliding scale, which bases grant values on recipients’ incomes, grant amounts were adjusted for 8 599 disability and old‑age grant recipients in accordance with the eligibility criteria.

“This results in projected savings of R36.4 million in 2025/26. A further 34 661 grants were cancelled, generating expected savings of R170.7 million by the end of 2025/26,” the department said.

The agency has rolled out biometric verification for new applicants to “strengthen beneficiary authentication”.

“It will intensify efforts to combat fraud and corruption, while ensuring that legitimate beneficiaries remain protected,” Treasury said. – SAnews.gov.za