Did you know there are scaled SASSA grants administered to the elderly? Unless you actually receive one of these, you probably wouldn’t know, because the agency itself doesn’t explain it in great detail publicly. And yet, there it is, gazetted right in its own regulations.
Looking at the SASSA Older Person Grant as one example, it isn’t necessarily a flat payment of R2 400 (60 to 74) and R2 420 (75 and up) per month. There is actually a formula for scaled SASSA grants, and it is:
D = 1.6A − 0.4B
SCALED SASSA GRANTS EXPLAINED
- D = Annual grant payable.
- A = Maximum annual grant, R2 400 a month (60 to 74).
- B = Annual income as reported in your means assessment.
Therefore, in South African Social Security Agency means tests, if you earn under R3 600 a month (R43 200 a year) for a single person, you get the full R2 400. However, for every extra R1 000 of income above that limit, scaled SASSA grants get cut by R400.
Very few people know this about the grant system, even among the roughly 4.2-million Old-Age beneficiaries actually receiving it.
ALLOWABLE INCOME LOWER THAN ADVERTISED
Many first-time applicants trying to figure out the agency’s income (means) eligibility limits will only read:
- Your income must be less than R9 350 (single) per month, which adds up to R112 200 per year.
However, that figure is the cliff at the very top. R9 350 of income doesn’t entitled you to R2 400. In fact, on the scaled SASSA grants system you only qualify for just R100 a month. That’s barely worth the trouble of applying. Refer to the table below …
| Monthly income | Annual income | Monthly grant | Annual grant | Income + grant |
| R3 600 (or less) | R43 200 | R2 400 | R28 800 | R6 000 |
| R4 000 | R48 000 | R2 240 | R26 880 | R6 240 |
| R4 500 | R54 000 | R2 040 | R24 480 | R6 540 |
| R5 000 | R60 000 | R1 840 | R22 080 | R6 840 |
| R5 500 | R66 000 | R1 640 | R19 680 | R7 140 |
| R6 000 | R72 000 | R1 440 | R17 280 | R7 440 |
| R6 500 | R78 000 | R1 240 | R14 880 | R7 740 |
| R7 000 | R84 000 | R1 040 | R12 480 | R8 040 |
| R7 500 | R90 000 | R840 | R10 080 | R8 340 |
| R8 000 | R96 000 | R640 | R7 680 | R8 640 |
| R8 500 | R102 000 | R440 | R5 280 | R8 940 |
| R9 000 | R108 000 | R240 | R2 880 | R9 240 |
| R9 350 | R112 200 | R100 | R1 200 | R9 450 |
A BIG CAVEAT
Plug your income into the above scale and you should be able to predict how much social assistance you’ll receive, if any, like reader Davemarie found out when querying his R1 730 payment. As ever, there are caveats, like a married person’s assessment combines both spouses income, so the numbers effectively double.
But what do you think? Have you been receiving scaled SASSA grants and didn’t know why? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …
