This page records the social grant increases for the 2026/27 financial year. The Minister of Finance announced them in the Budget Speech on 25 February 2026, and the new amounts were first paid in April 2026. By May, when many people first went looking for “the new amounts”, every permanent grant was already being paid at its higher rate. One grant, the foster child grant, has a second small step in October 2026.
What each grant paid before and after April 2026
The “before” figure is the amount paid from October 2025 to March 2026; the “after” figure applies from 1 April 2026.
- Pensioners aged 60–74: R2,320 to R2,400, up R80
- Pensioners aged 75 and over: R2,340 to R2,420, up R80
- Disability grant: R2,320 to R2,400, up R80
- Care dependency grant: R2,320 to R2,400, up R80
- War veterans grant: R2,340 to R2,420, up R80
- Foster child grant: R1,250 to R1,290, up R40
- Child support grant: R560 to R580, up R20 (with the orphan top-up: R840 to R870)
- Grant-in-aid: R560 to R580, up R20
- SRD grant: unchanged at R370, extended to 31 March 2027
The older persons figures are maximums; the means test can reduce the grant for someone with other income. What the R2,400 means for pensioners is explained on the R2400 older persons page, and the child amounts on the R580 child support grant page.
The foster child grant’s October step
The Budget split the foster child grant increase in two: R1,290 from April and R1,300 from October 2026. The Department of Social Development’s March payment-schedule statement mentioned only the R1,290, and by early October SASSA had not issued a separate notice about the second step. Foster parents should check the amount of their October payment. No other grant changes in October 2026.
From Budget Speech to bank account: the yearly cycle
- February: the Finance Minister sets the new amounts in the national Budget, as part of the total social grants budget (R292.8 billion for 2026/27).
- March: the Department of Social Development and SASSA publish the amounts and the payment dates for the coming year once National Treasury approves them. In 2026 that statement followed Treasury approval on 20 March.
- April: the new amounts are paid from the first pay day of the financial year. In 2026 that was Thursday 2 April for older persons. Nobody needs to apply for the increase.
- October, in some years: a smaller second step. In 2025 the adult grants rose by R10 in October; in 2026 only the foster child grant has one.
The 2026/27 payment schedule lists every pay day this year, and the May 2026 payment dates are kept as a record of that month.
Odd figures you may have seen
- R2,315: National Treasury’s average for the older persons grant over 2025/26, combining R2,310 and R2,320. Nobody was paid R2,315 in a month.
- R1,295: Treasury’s average for the foster child grant over 2026/27 (six months at R1,290 and six at R1,300), not a monthly payment.
- A higher SRD amount: the R370 did not change. Any decision about the SRD after March 2027 is expected in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement or the 2027 Budget, not before.
The next increases will be announced in the February 2027 Budget Speech and should take effect in April 2027.