Child Support Grant Increased for May 2025 Amid Budget Cuts
With a total budget allocation of R284.7 billion for 2025/26, SASSA child support grant increased for May 2025 amid budget cuts. All approved beneficiaries will receive the increased payment on the scheduled pay date, Thursday, 8 May 2025. While the adjustment is intended to support families living below the poverty line and those caring for orphans in foster care, the increase remains too small to offset rising inflation and underlying hidden grant cuts.
Child Support Grant Increased for May 2025 Amid Budget Cuts
In the May 2025 payment schedule, beneficiaries of South Africa’s Child Support Grant (CSG) will receive increased monthly payments. SASSA has raised the Child Support Grant by R30, from R530 to R560 per child. With a top-up amount, an additional R10 increase has been added, pushing the top-up from R270 to R280.
For foster child beneficiaries, SASSA increased the foster care grant by R70 from R1,180 to R1,250. In addition to providing the top-up amount for orphan care, which is increased by R40, raising the top-up from R800 to R840 per month.
While the increase in children’s grants is modest compared to other SASSA grants raised in April 2025, it is aimed at helping low-income households cope with the rising cost of living. Continued support remains critical for children in vulnerable families and foster care, as they struggle to meet essential needs such as food, school expenses, and healthcare in the ongoing inflation.
The raised increment in child grants remains minor compared to the growing challenges posed by rising inflation in South Africa, which has climbed from around 3% to nearly 6% in recent months. At the same time, the country continues to face high youth unemployment and worsening child poverty, with many parents jobless. This has intensified public pressure on the government to raise grant payments to meet the cost of living by today’s standards.
Important: New job opportunities opened at SASSA offices to support unemployed South Africans to reduce unemployment and uplift local communities.
SASSA Grant Hidden Budget Cuts Raise Questions for Child Grant Beneficiaries
Despite government promises of meaningful SASSA grant increases for 2025, the actual figures tell a different story. The care dependency grant, meant for children with disabilities, was publicly announced to increase from R2,185 to R2,315 (a 5.9% rise). In reality, it only rose to R2,310 with a hidden budget cuts of R5 of the promised amount.
Similarly, the child support grant (CSG), relied on by 13 million children monthly, saw only a R30 increase (from R530 to R560), far below inflation and rising living costs. The top-up amount increased by just 10 Rands (from R270 to R280). In contrast, the older persons grant received a larger R120 increase this year, because R10 hiddenly cuts from the promised R130 increment.
With 13 million SASSA child grant beneficiaries affected, these hidden grant reductions save the state approximately R65 million monthly and R780 million annually from the children’s grants alone. Similar discrepancies in the old age grant and disability grants suggest a broader pattern of fund diversion. These reductions highlight transparency issues in SASSA’s funding for vulnerable South Africans, which impact millions of beneficiaries nationwide.
Demands of Frustrated SASSA Beneficiaries and Advocacy Groups
Since Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2025 Budget Speech on 12 March 2025 publicly announced a R284.7 billion allocation for social grants in the 2025/26 financial year. Facing the hidden budget cuts, frustrated SASSA beneficiaries and advocacy groups have demanded accountability: Where are the missing funds going, and why are vulnerable children and families bearing the brunt?
For households depending entirely on the SASSA CSG, even small cuts have devastating consequences, forcing impossible choices between food, school fees, and medicine.
