Faster appeals, more effective payment methods and funeral benefits.
These are some of the improvements announced by Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini today regarding changes to the Social Assistance Act.
The act, which in itself carries great importance for our country, seeks to provide financial assistance in the form of child support grants, disability grants and care dependency grants.
Dlamini said that amendments included changes to the administration of social grants, adding that this will improve the appeals process which would normally take up to six months.
“The amendments also seek to establish a supplementary benefits fund, which will enable government to provide funeral benefits to the elderly,” she said.
The supplementary benefits fund would focus on funeral benefits and the actual benefits levels would be determined by both the minister of social development and the minister of finance at the time of implementation annually.
“A savings vehicle for caregivers of children will also be introduced, with the aim of linking social grants to developmental activities.”
Dlamini also said the department’s South Africa Social Security Agency would be paying social grants from April next year because the current contract with Cash Paymaster Services will come to an end.
“I am very confident that the new chief executive of Sassa will be up to the task and walk on the foundation that was laid by Dr Virginia Peterson. We are also confident that the transitional process will be smooth,” the minister said.
She said that the amendment bill would help ease the process of appealing should a person not be happy with the outcome of their grant application.
“The amendment bill proposes that a person will; immediately after receiving a decision from Sassa relating to their grant application, be able to directly lodge an appeal with the independent tribunal within a period of 90 days from the date of Sassa’s decision,” she said.