National Treasury has confirmed that most social grants will increase in the new financial year, while the SRD grant remains unchanged — and SASSA’s verification drive is set to tighten controls to protect the system and curb fraud.

All social grants, barring the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, will increase in the next financial year.

This is according to the 2026 Budget Review released by the National Treasury on Wednesday.

The grant increases are as follows:

• Old age grant will increase from R2 315 to R2 400.
• War veterans grant will increase from R2 335 to R2 420.
• Disability grant will go up from R2 315 to R2 400.
• Foster care grant rises from R1 250 to R1 295.
• Care dependency grant will increase from R2 315 to R2 400.
• Child support grant will go up from R560 to R580.
• The grant-in-aid will increase from R560 to R580.

The SRD grant will remain at R370, with payments to continue until next year.

“Social grants constitute the largest share of spending on social development. Excluding the [SRD] grant, spending increases from R246.6 billion in 2025/26 to R276.5 billion in 2028/29. The social relief of distress grant is allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend payments until 31 March 2027 at the current R370 per month per beneficiary.”

It furthermore said the social grant allocation has been adjusted down over the medium term in line with a lower inflation outlook and improved grant targeting and verification, which is expected to yield savings of R2 billion in 2026/27 and R1 billion in 2027/28.

The Social Development function’s overall budget will increase by some 4.2%, rising from R412.2 billion in 2025/26 to R466.4 billion in 2028/29.

“This supports poverty reduction by providing social grants, risk benefits through social insurance and welfare services. It also funds development initiatives, empowerment programmes, gender equality efforts, and advocacy for children, women, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities,” the budget review read.

Also read: Here are the SASSA payment dates for March 2026