South Africa’s new social grant coming soon

The Department of Social Development (DSD) said it has made significant progress towards developing a Basic Income Support (BIS) Grant for South Africa.

Modelled on the current Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant, the legislative process for a BIS Grant could begin as early as the 2027/28 fiscal year.

In a presentation to the Select Committee on Social Services on Wednesday, 17 June 2026, the DSD explained the more than two-year process it has undertaken to date to develop a BIS Grant.

While the “real work” to develop the grant only started two years ago, the idea of introducing a form of universal income support had been prevalent for years prior.

It was only with the introduction and subsequent success of the SRD Grant during the Covid-19 pandemic that a more structured plan for a BIS Grant started to take shape.

The government introduced the SRD Grant during the pandemic to provide income support for struggling households. 

It was originally intended to be a temporary relief measure, but it has been extended every year since.

The DSD explained that, as a result of the SRD’s success in addressing poverty, the department was directed to “repurpose” the grant to create a more permanent form of income support.

Thus, the DSD developed a draft policy, which it presented to the Cabinet in November 2024. It was then advised to strengthen a particular section of the draft related to linkages to employment activities and to update the draft policy’s costing.

In March 2025, the DSD hosted an interdepartmental workshop to discuss the draft policy, and by February 2026, an updated draft policy was completed.

This updated policy was presented in March 2026, and in May, another workshop was held with various government bodies, including the departments of Home Affairs, Employment and Labour, and Basic Education.

“The participants expressed support for the revised draft and offered valuable additional input on their various programmes targeting working-age adults,” the DSD said.

“Following this, the Department has shared the revised draft policy with National Treasury, and a follow-up meeting will be held in the next few weeks to consider the updates.”

The next steps

The DSD said its engagements with the Treasury should be finalised in June or July 2026, after which the draft policy will be updated again and presented to the Presidency.

If the Presidency approves, the draft policy will be resubmitted to the Cabinet for approval. If the Cabinet approves, the policy will be gazetted for public consultation, likely in the second quarter of 2026.

Following the public consultation process and the addition of any relevant inputs, the policy will be resubmitted to the Cabinet for final approval. The DSD hopes to reach this point before the end of March 2027.

If all goes to plan, the legislation process for the BIS Grant, which includes amending the Social Assistance Act, will commence next year, in the 2027/28 fiscal year.

In the meantime, the SRD Grant is likely to be extended for another year, or perhaps two, until all the work for a BIS Grant has been completed.

The SRD Grant comes at an annual cost of around R36 billion to the fiscus, with the 2026 Budget allocating R36.4 billion in funding for this grant.

When it was first introduced, the SRD Grant was R350 per month, but it was raised to R370 per month in April 2024.

To qualify for the grant, a person must be between the ages of 18 and 59, a South African citizen, permanent resident, or recognised refugee.

They must also be unemployed and not receiving any other social grant, an Unemployment Insurance Fund payment, a National Student Financial Aid Scheme bursary, or stipend. They must earn less than R624 per month from any source.

Currently, South Africa has 26.5 million social grant beneficiaries, which includes those who receive the SRD, Child Support, Older Persons’, Disability, and other grants.