South Africa’s social grant system will undergo notable adjustments in the 2026 financial year, with all permanent grants set to rise while the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant remains unchanged at R370 per month. Increases will range from R20 to R85 per month, benefiting more than 26 million recipients nationwide.
The old age, disability and care dependency grants will increase from R2,315 to R2,400. The war veterans grant rises to R2,420. The foster care grant moves from R1,250 to R1,295, while the child support grant and grant-in-aid increase from R560 to R580. The SRD grant, currently supporting approximately 8.2 million people, will remain fixed at R370, although it has been allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend payments until 31 March 2027.
As reported by National Treasury in its 2026 Budget Review, spending on permanent social grants will increase from R246.6 billion in 2025/26 to R276.5 billion in 2028/29. The broader Social Development function budget will grow by 4.2% over the medium term, rising from R412.2 billion to R466.4 billion by 2028/29. Treasury notes that the outer-year allocation for the SRD grant tapers sharply, with R1.7 billion and R1.2 billion pencilled in for subsequent years, signalling policy uncertainty beyond 2027.
President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated during the 2026 State of the Nation Address that the SRD grant is being redesigned to align more closely with a work-seeker’s support mechanism, reflecting government efforts to link income assistance with labour market participation.
Alongside the increases, Treasury has tightened oversight. The 2025/26 allocation to the South African Social Security Agency was made conditional on strengthening biometric and income verification systems. By December 2025, about six million bank accounts and eight million credit bureau records had been reviewed. This process flagged 291,581 beneficiaries for further scrutiny.
According to SASSA data referenced in the Budget Review, 34,661 grants were cancelled following eligibility reassessments, while 8,599 disability and old-age grants were adjusted under the income-based sliding scale. These measures are expected to generate savings of R170.7 million from cancellations and R36.4 million from adjusted payments in 2025/26.
Treasury projects additional savings of R2 billion in 2026/27 and R1 billion in 2027/28 due to improved targeting and a lower inflation outlook. While grant increases offer limited relief against living costs, the parallel compliance drive underscores government efforts to contain fiscal pressures as social spending remains one of the largest components of the national budget.