Official SASSA grant increases for 2025 announced

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Confirmation of official SASSA grant increases for 2025 has finally put millions of struggling social-welfare recipients at ease. The announcement of official SASSA grant increases for 2025 came during Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech this afternoon (Wednesday 12 March 2025). And follows a month of conjecture over SASSA grant increases for 2025 after February’s postponed Budget Speech.

Specifically, the South African Social Security Agency has been fighting battles seemingly on all fronts. Like the on-going Postbank card-swap debacle, landmark High Court ruling over SRD, on-going identity theft, and suspended CEO leaving no reliable senior management. All of the above forced the country’s neediest residents to suffering before official SASSA grant increases for 2025 were finally revealed.

OFFICIAL SASSA GRANT INCREASES FOR 2025

The poorly managed Postbank card swap has left a bitter taste in many clients’ mouths. Image: File

Nevertheless, the minister revealed a higher than expected, above-inflation increase of between 5.7 to 5.9% rise for 2025 grants. Last year’s increases were only 4.9%. And the National Treasury acknowledges grant increases need to be higher to account for the 0.5% VAT increase. The official SASSA grant increases for 2025, therefore, amount to the following:

For SASSA Older Persons, an extra R130 in April 2025. Therefore, old-age pensioners (60 to 74) will receive R2 315, and over 75s R2 335.
At the same time, like Older Persons above, War Veterans, Disability and Care Dependency grants also increase by R130. Therefore, up to R2 315 for the remainder of the year.

Of course, ‘core’ SASSA Old-Age grants going to 4-million-plus beneficiaries are the nation’s most important, but official SASSA grant increases for 2025 also include childcare, disability and support for war veterans …

CHILDCARE AND DISABILITY IN 2025

Sadly, the increases have not kept pace with inflation, but they are on par with pay rises for government workers. Image: File

In fact, SASSA Child Support is the nation’s most expensive grant, as it goes to the most recipients (approximately 13 million). Therefore, Child Support will increase by R30 from R530 to R560, effective from April 2025 onwards. At the same time SASSA Foster Care grants will rise by R50 from R1 180 to R1 230.

ALL 2025 SASSA GRANT INCREASES IN ONE TABLE

We’ve collated all the 2025 SASSA grant increases for you in one table …

Grant	March 2025	From April 2025	Increase
Old Age (60 yo)	R2 190	R2 315	R130 (5.9%)
Old Age (75 yo)	R2 210	R2 335	R130 (5.9%)
Foster Care	R1 180	R1 250	R50 (5.9%)
Child Support	R530	R560	R30 (5.7%)
Disability	R2 190	R2 315	R130 (5.9%)
Care Dependency	R2 190	R2 315	R130 (5.9%)

NO PAY DATES CONFIRMED FOR INCREASES

Be sure to diarise the important SASSA payment dates below … Image: File

While official SASSA grant increases for 2025 have finally been confirmed, actual payment dates for the first week of April have not. Nevertheless, here is when they’re most likely to occur:

Older Person Grants: Tuesday 1 April 2025.
Disability Grants: Wednesday 2 April 2025.
Children’s Grants: Thursday 3 April 2025.

Beneficiaries should note that payments may take 2-3 days to reflect in their bank account.

At the same time, Postbank and SASSA officials have been taken to task by a parliamentary oversight committee. Last week, they admitted that out of approximately 3-million Postbank clients, 1.9 million still needed to migrate their accounts from gold to black cards. 900 000 secured accounts represents only a 30% completion rate with only a week to go to the deadline. Nevertheless, if you are affected, your account will stop be operational and reflect your funds. However, you will not be able to draw any money with the old SASSA gold card.