The South African Social Security Agency continues to administer social assistance to citizens who require financial assistance through the COVID-19 SRD R350 grant as nearly 7.5 million people are receiving the benefit on a monthly basis.
In August 2022, SASSA released a statement on the new qualifying criteria for the SASSA R350 SRD grant. This comes after SASSA and the Department of Social Development (DSD) discovered a decrease in the number of approved beneficiaries compared to the previous grant cycle.
Having noted the public outcry regarding the qualifying criteria that was introduced during the third iteration of this benefit, SASSA published the amended regulations that simplified some complexities that were arising from the qualifying criteria, this included an increase of the means test income threshold from R350 to R624 that is in line with the estimated Food Poverty Line for 2022. This meant that applicants who received more than R624 in their accounts for a particular month will not be approved to receive the grant for that month.
R350 Grant Challenges
The new regulation meant that more applicants will be approved to receive the R350 grant but, SASSA has been having challenges keeping up with the processing of payments as more people have not received their payments for the previous months with some application statuses still pending.
The main challenge they encountered was refining the systems as they had to have it in place to ensure that they do not go overboard with what they have been allocated.
SASSA does apologize to all applicants and beneficiaries of the COVID-19 SRD for the challenges that they experienced with the end of the provisions, of the national state of disaster under the Disaster Management Act, and the switch over to regulations of the Social Assistance Act.
They do acknowledge the pain and hardships that these challenges occasioned for many of you for whom this intervention is the difference between, on one hand, hunger and indignity, and on another, leading a dignified life.
These challenges have been a learning curve for SASSA as they have been learning how to improve their systems for the better. As such, people never went to offices to apply for the SRD grant, all is done online which is a very good thing, it proves that the government can advance to new technologies for better service delivery.
SASSA R350 Bank Account Information Update
Applicants of the COVID-19 SRD are urged not to change their bank details frequently because every change requires that the new account be verified which might cause a delay in the issuing of payments.
Once your bank details are loaded or updated, please wait for a response from your bank before changing your details.
How to Change Your Bank Account Information for R350 Grant
- Bank account information can be updated at sassa.gov.za.
- Scroll down to the section titled “How to Change My Banking Details,” enter your ID number, and click submit.
- After that, you will receive an SMS on the mobile number you provided during the application with a secure link to update your banking information. The link will be active for 30 minutes.
- Follow the instructions by clicking on the link you received via SMS.
- Please ensure that you are the owner of the bank account information you provide, as SASSA will not make payments to anyone else’s account. Also, if you choose to receive the money via the money transfer option, please ensure that the number you receive the SMS is registered in your name.
- Payment will be made into the new banking details after verification.
With all the challenges, SASSA hopes to resolve all the outstanding payments by the end of October 2022.