Question NW2434 to the Minister of Social Development

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21 December 2020 - NW2434

Profile picture: Abrahams, Ms ALA

Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Social Development

Whether, in light of the current disability assessment backlog and the shortage of doctors who are specialists to make such assessments in the Republic, she will consider extending the (a) disability and (b) care dependency grants which will lapse on 31 October, 30 November and 31 December 2020 to 31 March 2021; if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply:

The care dependency and temporary disability grants which would have lapsed at the end of October and November have already been extended to 31 December 2020. The cost for this extension has been accommodated within the budget allocation provided for these grants for the current financial year.

We are now working on a plan to address the significant number which will expire at the end of December, costing approximately R1.2 billion. This estimated cost cannot be accommodated within the existing budget, so we are considering alternatives to prevent bulk lapsing on 31 December 2020 by introducing staggered dates for lapsing between December 2020 and March 2021 to manage the influx for citizens who may wish to reapply for the disability grant.

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