Social grants will be increased by 5% in the current fiscal year, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in his Budget Speech on Wednesday afternoon.
Delivering his speech at the City Hall in Cape Town, Godongwana said R66-billion has been allocated to the Department of Social Development over the medium term.
The minister said R36-billion of that money will fund an extension of the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant until March 2024, while R30-billion will be used for the “inflation-linked increase” on other social grants.
He explained: “The 2023 Budget allocates additional funding totaling R227-billion over the medium term. There are several priorities that will be funded through this additional money.
“R66-billion is allocated to [the Department of] Social Development over the medium term, with R36-billion to fund the extension of the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant until 31 March 2024. R30-billion will be used for inflation-linked increases for other social grants.”
The social grant increases are as follows:
- The old-age and disability grants will increase by R90 on April 1 and a further R10 from October resulting in a total increase to R2 090
- Child support grants will rise from R480 to R510 on October 1 while the foster care grant will go up by 5.1% from R1 070 to R1 125 over the same period
- Disability grant is expected to rise to R2 085
- Grant-in-aid increases to R505, up by 5.2%
“R23-billion and R22-billion will be allocated to health and basic education, respectively, to cover the shortfall in compensation budgets and to improve services. R8-billion is allocated for basic services through the local government equitable share.
“In relation to recent floods and the national state of disaster declared in various provinces, R695-million is available in this financial year for immediate relief. A further R1-billion will be available next year.”
According to National Treasury, the Department of Social Development is expected to receive R1.1-trillion over the medium-term expenditure framework (MFET) for social grants and welfare services, as well as to strengthen advocacy for the empowerment of youth, women and people living with disabilities.
Meanwhile, child-care and old-age grants will continue to receive a largest proportion of government’s expenditure in the next three years.
The Treasury said: “The child-support grant and old-age grant together account for about 70% of total grant expenditure over the MTEF period. These two grants will be provided to a total of 17.5-million beneficiaries in 2023/24. Social grants will increase in line with inflation over the medium term.
“Expenditure on social grants will increase from R233-billion in 2022/23 to R248.4-billion in 2025/26 due to increases in the number of recipients and the value of the grants.
“Excluding the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant, social-grant coverage is expected to increase from about 18.6-million beneficiaries in March 2023 to 19.6-million beneficiaries by March 2026.”
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