Basic Income Support Grant: South Africa’s New Replacement for the SRD R370
South Africa’s government is actively developing a new grant, Basic Income Support (BIS), to replace the SRD R370 once it winds down after 31 March 2027. President Ramaphosa committed to this in his 2026 State of the Nation Address, and the Department of Social Development is drafting the policy with input from various stakeholders. Nothing is finalised: there’s no confirmed start date, exact amount, or final eligibility rules yet. What is confirmed is that the current SRD grant continues unchanged, at R370 a month, until March 2027, and that BIS is intended to link recipients to job-seeking activity in a way the SRD grant currently doesn’t.
If you currently receive the SRD grant, nothing changes for you right now. This page explains what’s actually confirmed about what comes after March 2027, and what’s still genuinely undecided, so you’re not caught off guard either way.
Why the SRD Grant Is Being Replaced
The 2026 Budget extended the SRD grant with an additional R36.4 billion, enough to keep it running at R370 a month until 31 March 2027. But look further out in the same budget, and the money set aside for the grant drops sharply after that, falling to roughly R1.7 billion in one outer year and R1.2 billion in the next. That’s not enough to fund an ongoing R370 monthly grant to millions of people, which is the clearest signal that government intends to replace the SRD with something else once the current extension runs out, rather than simply continuing it as is.
The Department of Social Development has described the SRD grant’s track record as a success, pointing to independent research showing it reduced hunger and poverty while helping recipients stay engaged in job searching and other economic activity. The stated aim of Basic Income Support is to build on that success with a more permanent, structured programme, rather than the SRD’s original design as a temporary COVID-era relief measure that’s simply been extended repeatedly since 2020.
What’s Actually Confirmed
- President Ramaphosa committed to reworking the SRD into a Basic Income Support grant in his 2026 State of the Nation Address
- The Department of Social Development is actively drafting the BIS policy, with input from multiple stakeholders shaping the final design
- A draft policy was first presented to Cabinet in November 2024 but was sent back to strengthen key provisions before proceeding further
- The current SRD grant is funded and unchanged at R370 a month through 31 March 2027
- BIS is intended to include some link to employment-seeking activity, a meaningful design difference from the SRD, which has no such requirement
What’s Not Yet Decided
- The exact start date. No confirmed launch date exists yet, only that it’s intended to follow the SRD grant’s end in March 2027
- The monthly amount. No figure has been confirmed, and it shouldn’t be assumed to simply match the current R370
- Exact eligibility rules. Whether current SRD recipients transfer automatically, or need to reapply under new criteria, hasn’t been settled
- How the employment-seeking link will actually work. Whether this means proof of active job searching, participation in a programme like SA Youth, or something else, is still being worked out in the drafting process
Treat any specific figure or start date you see elsewhere online with caution unless it cites an official government announcement, at this stage, precise details are genuinely not public yet, not just hard to find.
What This Means If You’re on the SRD Grant Now
Nothing changes today. Your SRD grant continues to be reassessed monthly and paid at R370 as normal through March 2027. If BIS does carry an employment-seeking requirement as currently described, it may be worth building a presence on a platform like SA Youth now, rather than waiting, since staying visibly engaged in job searching could matter more under whatever eligibility system eventually replaces the SRD’s simpler means test. See our SA Youth registration guide if you haven’t set up a profile yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the SRD grant ending?
The current SRD grant is funded and confirmed until 31 March 2027. After that, government intends to replace it with Basic Income Support, though BIS itself isn’t finalised yet.
Will Basic Income Support pay more than R370?
No amount has been confirmed yet. Don’t treat any specific figure circulating online as official until government announces it directly.
Will I need to reapply for Basic Income Support?
This hasn’t been decided publicly yet. It’s one of the details still being worked through as the policy is finalised.
Where will the official announcement come from?
Announcements of this scale come from the Presidency, the Department of Social Development, or a National Budget speech, not from third-party websites. Confirm anything you read here or elsewhere against sassa.gov.za or official government communications before treating it as final.
For everything currently confirmed about the SRD grant, see our SASSA Guide 2026. We’ll update this page as soon as Basic Income Support moves from policy draft to official government announcement.