Hope ahead for millions: Early indications point to SRD grant extension beyond March 2025

The R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is scheduled to expire on 31 March 2025 with its 8.5 million recipients facing a bleak financial future without this crucial safety net for their essential needs.

Managed by Sassa, the Department of Social Development‘s SRD grant was introduced in May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic as a support mechanism, initially for the unemployed and then to include adults with little or no income.

It was intended to be a temporary measure, but it has been extended several times.

Sassa SRD grant extension?

This week, The Citizen spoke to an insider at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) about the possibility of yet another extension of the SRD grant.

In reply, they hinted at the strong possibility that the SRD could be extended beyond its March 2025 expiry date.

Sassa, according to them, will be informed about National Treasury’s decision before the end of January as it would need to put the necessary systems in place for the seamless continuation of payments after March.

Funding allocated for SRD grant until 2027

The possibility of an extension is backed up by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2024 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) that government has provisionally allocated funding for the SRD until March 2027.

According to the MTBPS, the National Treasury allocated R33.6 billion for the SRD grant in 2024/25, and made provisional allocations of R35.2 billion for 2025/26 and R36.8 billion for 2026/27.

Where will the money come from?

The inner workings of how the grant will be funded beyond March 2025 have however remained unclear, with budgetary restrictions and possible new revenue streams that must be found as the main reasons cited for this uncertainty.

“National Treasury will work with the Department of Social Development in ensuring that improvements in this grant are captured in the final regulations. These improvements will be within the current fiscal framework,” Godongwana said.

“For the extension of the grant beyond March 2025, the social security policy reforms, together with the funding source, will be finalised.”

Proposals for ‘improvements’

The “improvements” to which Godongwana referred, are proposals to amend the qualifying criteria for the grant.

According to Moonstone, an independent support network for Financial Service Providers (FSPs), it is expected that the amendments will reduce the number of people who will qualify for the grant.

The draft amendments will allow the Department of Social Development to cancel approved applications when beneficiaries do not update their personal and banking details within 90 days of being notified to do so, and “any monies due will be forfeited to the state”.

ALSO READ: Investigation into Sassa’s SRD grant fraud fails to answer critical questions

What about the Basic Income Grant?

Looking further ahead, the government has been exploring the idea of a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG) to potentially replace the SRD grant as a more sustainable long-term solution to poverty and unemployment.

However, implementing a basic income grant is no simple task and has been a topic of discussion for several years already with government faced with the need to navigate complex financial and social dynamics.

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