Saturday, August 23, 2008

Changes to means test benefits more

By Mishkah Anthony
23 August 2008


The Minister of Social Development, Dr. Zola Skweyiya, yesterday announced the new regulations which will allow more people to apply for social grants.

This means that just over a million people who were excluded before, will now get an opportunity to apply for a social grant.

The Minister announced that the means test applicable to the child support grant is changed from R1100 to R2200 per month. The Care Dependency grant income threshold is increased from R4000 to R9400 per month. For the adult grants, the income threshold is increased from R1900 to R2200 per month and the value of the assets increases from R338 000 to R450 000 per year for unmarried persons and doubled for married persons.

Minister Skweyiya said this brings relief to those who are faced with distress and undue hardship. The measures are part of government’s war on poverty campaign. She says this is indeed a step in the right direction especially in these hard times where the cost of living has increased as a result of high food and petrol prices.

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