An “Approved” month with a pay day on the SRD status page means SASSA has processed your R370. If you receive the grant in cash rather than into a bank account, the next questions are where you can collect it, when to go and what to carry. Cash collection has changed a lot since the R350 days, so check what applies now before you queue.
How SRD cash collection worked, and what has closed
In 2020 and 2021, SRD recipients who did not use a bank could choose Post Office collection or a “cash send” to a cellphone registered in their own name. People on the Post Office option could also withdraw at Pick n Pay and Boxer supermarkets once SASSA had sent them an SMS.
Two of those routes have since shut:
- Grant cash at Post Office counters was wound down during 2024.
- On 1 May 2026 Postbank ended cash withdrawals and deposits at Post Office branches altogether. Postbank says grant access is not affected, and points people to participating retailers, cardless withdrawals at retail stores, and Standard Bank branches and ATMs.
Do not go to a Post Office counter to collect an SRD grant. We could not confirm which cash options the SRD website offers in October 2026, because the site would not load for our checks. When you set or change your payment method on srd.sassa.gov.za, the options it lists are the ones that apply to you.
The SMS comes before the trip
SASSA and Postbank have always told cash recipients to wait for the SMS that confirms the money is ready and where to collect it. A pay day on the status page shows SASSA has processed the month. The SMS confirms your cash is ready. In 2021 the Post Office warned that the grant would not be available to people who arrived before their SMS. How to read the pay day itself is covered in our page on finding your R370 payment date.
You do not have to rush on the first day. Approved grant money stays available until you withdraw it, although a grant left unclaimed for three months can be suspended.
What to carry to the pay point
- Your own identity document, green ID book or smart ID card, with the same ID number you applied with.
- The cellphone with the SIM that received SASSA’s SMS, charged. SASSA told supermarket collectors in 2021 to bring both their phone and their ID.
- The SMS itself. Do not delete it until the money is in your hand.
No genuine cashier or SASSA official will ask for your banking PIN. If a one-time PIN arrives, type it in yourself at the till and do not read it out to people in the queue.
Common reasons a cash withdrawal is refused
- You arrived before the SMS, or before the pay day for that month.
- The month you came for is not approved, or is approved with no pay day yet.
- Your ID document is missing, damaged, or does not match the application.
- You no longer have the phone or SIM linked to the application.
- You went to a channel that no longer pays grants in cash, such as a Post Office branch.
- The money has already been withdrawn. If you did not do it, report it to SASSA at once, and report fraud to 0800 701 701.
Confirm the month’s result on the official SRD status page first. If it shows approved with a pay day and you still cannot get the money, call SASSA on 0800 60 10 11 and work through our steps for a grant that was not paid.
Switching from cash to a bank account
Moving to a bank account removes the SMS wait and the queue. SASSA has long called it the quickest way to receive the SRD. SASSA verifies the account with your bank first, so it has to be open and registered in your name. You make the change on the SRD website after an SMS link confirms it is you. The full process is in our banking details guide. If an SMS for cash arrives soon after you switch, collect that payment as the SMS says rather than waiting for it in the bank.