Social grant changes for South Africa next week – BusinessTech

The Department of Social Development (DSD) has gazetted the increases to South Africa’s social grant regime, which will come into effect next Wednesday, 1 April 2026.

The social assistance grant increases are in line with the changes announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana at the 2026 Budget Speech in February.

Grants will increase by R20 to R80 per month, with the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant remaining at R370 and payments continuing until next year.

Social grants constitute the largest share of spending on social development. For 2026/27, social grants have been allocated R292.8 billion – 3.6% of GDP.

The SRD grant has been allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend payments until 31 March 2027 at the current rate of R370 per beneficiary per month.

Excluding the social relief of distress grant, spending on grants is increasing from R246.6 billion in 2025/26 to R276.5 billion in 2028/29.

Around 8.2 million people currently benefit from the SRD grant, with 26.5 million grant recipients overall.

South Africans can expect the SRD grant to undergo significant changes in 2026 as it is reformed and developed into a permanent jobseeker’s grant throughout the year.

While standard SRD payments will continue until the end of the financial year, they are expected to be discontinued and replaced by a Basic Income Support (BIS) grant in 2027.

The DSD recently noted that it was consulting with the National Treasury on the new grant, with a draft policy on the BIS and consultations expected to be finalised by the end of March.

The new grant is intended to align with broader employment and social protection strategies.

The DSD said this will likely align with linking beneficiaries aged 18 to 59 with employment, training, and enterprise opportunities.

This is essential to transform grants from instruments of survival into tools of empowerment, it said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also confirmed that the grant will be a jobseeker’s grant.

Delivering the keynote address at the News24 On the Record Summit last week, the president said the state wants to use the grant to help tackle the country’s unemployment crisis.

“By redesigning the Social Relief of Distress Grant, we will ensure that those receiving the grant have access to a wide range of support to search for work and to sustain a livelihood,” he said.

“We must continue to strengthen our social protection system to reach all unemployed South Africans with a basic level of support.”

The grant increases are as follows:

The increases will be effected on 1 April 2026 and 1 October 2026 respectively.

The gazette can be found below.