Question NW1896 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

a) All active grants are systematically checked against the Department of Home Affairs on a monthly basis, before payments are extracted for payment in the following month. All deaths which are registered with the Department of Home Affairs at the time of the monthly check result in the immediate cancellation of the grant.

b) Regulation 27(2) to the Social Assistance Act, Act 13 of 2004, makes provision for SASSA to review a social grant

“(a) at any time where it has reason to believe that changes in the beneficiary’s financial circumstances may have occurred;

(b) on expiry of the validity of the identity document of a beneficiary, if the beneficiary is a refugee; or

(c) in case of a foster child grant, on expiry of the court order.”

In addition, Regulation 27(8) makes provision for the review of permanent disability grants when there is reason to believe that changes to the medical condition could have occurred.

The above reviews are all done to ensure that the beneficiary continues to qualify for the grant over time. There is not a set period for reviews provided for in legislation, so the discretion is with SASSA. Since we do not have the resources or capacity to review all grants annually, a policy to give effect to Regulation 27 has been developed and is implemented. In terms of this policy, the reviews are prioritised in terms of grants where the beneficiary information is likely to change, for example, financial reviews are done for clients who declared income on application which either affects the amount of the grant they receive, or is near the threshold limit.

Similarly, medical reviews for permanent disability grants are done in accordance with the recommendation of the assessing doctor, who is best placed to indicate if, and over what time frame, a change in the medical condition is likely to occur.