The low number of R350 special COVID-19 social relief of distress (SRD) award applications that were granted worries the Department of Social Development.
According to the department, this comes after the new laws went into effect and applicants’ bank accounts were compared to the R350 income level.
Only 5.2 million recipients received approval out of 11.4 million applicants in June.
Less than half of the applications are represented by this, according to a statement from the department.
For the period from 1 March 2022 to 31 March 2023, Minister Lindiwe Zulu has published draft regulations to amend some of the qualification criteria.
This is in keeping with her promise that the Department would review the threshold if the numbers suggested it.
The three main proposed changes include the maximum income that may be earned, the use of bank verification, and the need that applicants reaffirm their need for the award every three months.
Accordingly, SASSA will reject any applicant who receives more than R624 into their bank account for each pertinent month, upping the maximum allowable income from R350 to the food poverty line amount of R624, according to the department.
According to the department, assessments will be made on a monthly basis.
If an applicant’s income for a given month is less than R624, they will be eligible for a grant.
For the time period beginning on 1 April 2022 and ending on 31 March 2023, the grant’s actual value stays at R350 per person per month.
The second amendment aims to do away with the requirement that applicants state whether they need the award every three months.
According to the government, applications are already evaluated every month.
The third amendment seeks to eliminate the provision that designates the bank verification process as the primary factor in determining grant eligibility.
According to the department, this is done to ensure that SASSA runs all relevant database checks, including checks of bank account income, before deciding whether to accept or reject an application.
The Department informs applicants that they must submit an appeal in each month for which they have been rejected, just like under the former dispensation.
But today, instead of going through SASSA, the appeal is filed directly with the Appeals Tribunal. The new appeals website is at https://srd.dsd.gov.za.
To ensure that the most disadvantaged people can benefit from the SRD award, the department said it wanted to “reiterate the urge for all stakeholders to seize this opportunity and provide comments on the proposed regulations.”
The Department has also expressed its sincere regret for the lengthy delay in evaluating the applications submitted in April and May, stating that “we are doing everything we can to speed up the evaluations, especially the bank verification processes that are now required by the legislation.”
The agency announced that it will complete the approvals and payments for the April applications as well as finalize the payments for those who were accepted for June during the month of July.