How to apply for the SRD grant online

The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is temporary help for adults with little or no income. The national Budget decides how long it is funded and how much it pays. For the current amount, call SASSA on 0800 60 10 11. You apply online on the SRD website, srd.sassa.gov.za, and the application is free.

Who can apply

SASSA’s grant booklet says you can get the SRD grant if you:

• are a South African citizen, permanent resident or recognised refugee, hold a valid special permit under the Angolan, Lesotho or Zimbabwean dispensation, or are an asylum seeker with a valid Section 22 permit or visa,
• are registered on the Home Affairs database,
• are 18 or older and younger than 60,
• live in South Africa and are not cared for in a state-funded institution,
• don’t unreasonably refuse work or study opportunities,
• pass the means test, and
• don’t get another social grant for yourself.

The SRD website adds that you must not contribute to UIF or be eligible for UIF payments, and must have no financial support from any other source. Read the declaration on the website before you apply: it is the current, official list of conditions.

What you need

• Your 13-digit South African ID number, or your asylum seeker file number or special permit details.
• A cellphone number registered in your own name. SASSA uses it to send verification requests and status messages.
• Your employment details and how you support yourself (the website calls this “lifestyle sustainability” information).
• Banking details for an account in your own name. SASSA has said that payments to an account in someone else’s name will not verify.

You don’t upload any documents. Everything is entered on the website.

How to apply, step by step

1. Open the official SRD website. Check that the address in your browser is srd.sassa.gov.za before you type anything.
2. Choose “South African ID Holders”, or “Asylum Seekers and Special Permit Holders”.
3. Read the Declaration and Consent documents and accept them only if they are true for you.
4. Enter your personal details and your cellphone number, then confirm the code SASSA sends to your phone.
5. Answer the employment and income questions honestly. Wrong answers can lead to a decline.
6. Enter your banking details. Use an account in your own name.
7. Check your ID number, cellphone number and account number, then submit.
8. Complete the verification SASSA sends to your phone. Every new applicant must pass a facial biometric check (SASSA calls it eKYC) before the grant can be approved, and SASSA has said that an application without verification is unsuccessful.

After you apply

Submitting is not an approval. SASSA checks your information and decides month by month, so your status can say approved for one month and declined for another.

Check your SRD status on the SRD website with your ID number and the cellphone number you applied with. A month shows as pending while SASSA checks it. SASSA has said that once you are verified, payment follows in the next pay run. The SRD grant is paid separately from the other grants: see how SASSA pays.

If you need to change your cellphone number or your banking details, use the official routes in those guides.

If SASSA declines you

You can appeal to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals for each month you were declined, on srd.sassa.gov.za/appeals. See how to appeal an SRD decline.

Stay safe

• Applying is free. Don’t pay anyone to apply for you or to speed up an approval.
• Never share your bank PIN, card PIN, online banking password or a one-time PIN. SASSA says it will never ask for your PIN.
• If you need help with your phone, ask someone you trust and type your banking details yourself.
• Messages with a link to a “special” SRD form are often scams. Type the website address yourself. See how to spot SASSA scams.