Question NW4635 to the Minister of Social Development
28 December 2022 - NW4635
Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Social Development
Since the implementation of the Child Support Grant Top-Up for orphaned and/or abandoned children in the care of relatives, what (a) total number of grants (i) have been successfully provided and (ii) are in process in each province, (b) is the (i) total budget allocated towards the specified grant and (ii) reason(s) for the slow uptake of the grant and (c) numerical impact has the grant made in reducing the foster care backlog in each province?
Reply:
a) (i) By 31 October 2022, there was a total of 20,688 orphans in the care of their relatives in receipt of the Child Support Grant (CSG) Top- Up.
(ii) There are no backlogs for processing of CSG Top-Up applications. Processing is a daily action which happens as applications are submitted.
b) (i) There is no specific budget allocation for the Child Support Grant Top- Up in the 2022/23 financial year. In preparation for implementation of the CSG Top-Up, National Treasury identified savings from the existing social grants, which was deemed sufficient to fund the implementation of the grant.
(ii) As with any new grant or change in benefits that requires applications, up take is normally slow as awareness of the benefits steadily grows. The Department and SASSA have been conducting awareness sessions in Provinces to increase awareness of the provision to both beneficiaries and officials.
c) At this stage, there has not been much impact on reducing the foster care backlog. This may be due to the disjuncture between the Social Assistance Act, which was passed by Parliament and the Children’s Amendment Bill [B18D – 2020] that was passed by both houses of Parliament on 06 December 2022. It has been sent to the President for assent. Determining the impact of Top Up Grant will be more appropriate once both pieces of legislation have been implemented. However, it must be noted that even if the Children’s Amendment Act is implemented, the foster children who are already in the system will not be automatically excluded. The impact will be tracked only from the new cases.