The right to social assistance is designed to ensure that people living in poverty can meet basic subsistence needs. Government is obliged to support children directly when their parents or caregivers are too poor to do so. Income support for poor children is provided through the CSG, which is an unconditional cash grant paid to the caregivers of eligible children.
Introduced in 1998 with an initial value of R100, the CSG has become the single biggest programme for alleviating child poverty in South Africa. Take-up of the CSG has increased dramatically over the years and the grant amount is increased slightly each year, more or less keeping pace with overall inflation. As at the end of March 2020, a monthly CSG of R450 was paid to 12,992,678 children aged 0 – 17 years. The value of the CSG increased to R460 per month from the beginning of April 2021. The grant amount was originally linked to the minimum cost of feeding and clothing a child. Its value is increased slightly each year, more or less keeping pace with headline inflation although it has fallen behind food inflation. As a result, the value of the CSG has been eroded relative to the food poverty line, and the CSG no longer covers the cost of providing a child with their minimum nutritional needs.
At the end of March 2023, a monthly CSG of R480 was paid to just over 13 million children aged 0 – 17 years. The value of the CSG increased to R500 per month from the beginning of April 2023, and to R510 from October 2023. From April 2024, the value of the CSG was R530 per month.
Because the CSG is targeted to poor children, a simple means test is used to determine eligibility. The income threshold is set at 10 times the amount of the grant. This means that every time the grant is increased, the means test also increases. From April 2024, the income threshold was R5,300 per month for a single caregiver and double that if the caregiver is married (R10,600 per month for the joint income of the caregiver and spouse).
Initially the CSG was only available for children younger than seven years. From 2003 it was gradually extended to older children up to the age of 14. Since January 2012, eligible children can receive the grant until they turn 18. Take-up of the CSG increased dramatically over the first 15 years, after which the numbers started levelling off.
A slight dip in grant access in 2014 was probably the result of the introduction of a biometric system which led to the identification and suspension of grants to beneficiaries who were not verified biometrically. Most of them were reinstated the following year, although without back-pay. From 2014, the numbers increased again gradually, only tapering off in 2021 and 2022.
In March 2022, fewer CSGs were in payment than in March the previous year – the number of CSGs had decreased by nearly 80,000, from 13 million in 2021. Although the overall numbers have picked up again subsequently, it is worrying that the number of infants (under one year of age) receiving the CSG has continued to fall each year, while at the same time poverty rates have risen. In March 2020, just before lockdown, 658,000 infants were receiving the CSG. This number dropped by over 100,000 to 550,000 in March 2021. The substantial drop between 2020 and 2021 was almost certainly the result of delays in birth registration and grant applications in the context of lockdown. Although birth registration rates recovered after 2021, the number of infants receiving the CSG continued to fall – to 543,000 in 2022 then to 509,000 in 2023 and to 468,645 in 2024. This has reversed improvements in infant uptake by 10 years, taking us back to 104 levels. It is not clear what is causing the further decline in CSG access for infants. Possible reasons may include accessibility of SASSA services at local offices due to staff shortages, the introduction of rotating days for grant applications, and the impacts of load-shedding on the systems.
There is substantial evidence that social grants, including the CSG, are being spent on food, education and basic goods and services. The evidence shows that the CSG not only helps to alleviate income poverty and realise children’s right to social assistance, but is also associated with improved nutritional, health and education outcomes, especially if the grant is accessed soon after birth and is received continuously.1
Given the positive and cumulative effects of the grant, it is important that caregivers are able to access it for their children as early as possible. One of the main concerns is the slow take-up for young children. An analysis of exclusions from the CSG found that exclusion rates for eligible infants were as high as 43% in 2014, an improvement of only three percentage points from 47% in 2008. The total rate of exclusion for all ages is 17.5% (over 1.8 million children).2 A subsequent analysis found that infant exclusion rates dropped to 35% in 2017-2019, but increased again to 208% in 2020.3 Exclusion rates are consistently found to be highest in the Western Cape and Gauteng. Barriers to take-up include confusion about eligibility requirements and the means test in particular; lack of documentation (mainly identity books or birth certificates, and proof of school enrolment, although the latter is not an eligibility requirement) and problems of institutional access (including the time and cost of reaching SASSA offices, long queues and lack of baby-friendly facilities).
1 For an overview of impacts, see: Hall K, Proudlock P & Budlender D (2023) Reducing Child Poverty: A review of child poverty and the value of the Child Support Grant. Pretoria: Department of Social Development.
See also: Grinspun A (2016) No small change: The multiple impacts of the Child Support Grant on child and adolescent well-being. In: Delany A, Jehoma S & Lake L (eds) South African Child Gauge 2016. Cape Town: Children’s Institute, UCT;
Coetzee M (2014) Do Poor Children Really Benefit from the Child Support Grant? Econ3x3 Working Paper, 10 July 2014. Accessed 14 July: www.econ3x3.org/article/do-poor-children-really-benefit-child-support-grant;
Coetzee M (2013) Finding the benefits: Estimating the impact of the South African child support grant. South African Journal of Economics, 81(3):427-450;
Department of Social Development, South African Social Security Agency & UNICEF (2012) The South African Child Support Grant Impact Assessment: Evidence from a survey of children, adolescents and their households. Pretoria: UNICEF South Africa;
Woolard I & Leibbrandt M (2010) The Evolution and Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers in South Africa. SALDRU Working Paper 51. Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, UCT;
Agüero JM, Carter M & Woolard I (2009) The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Nutrition: The South African Child Support Grant. Working Paper, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth;
Samson M, Heinrich C, Williams M, Kaniki S, Muzondo T, Quene KM & Van Niekerk I (2008) Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of the Child Support Grant. Produced by the Economic Policy Research Institute for the Department of Social Development, SASSA & UNICEF. Pretoria: UNICEF;
Budlender D & Woolard I (2006) The Impact of the South African Child Support and Old Age Grants on Children’s Schooling and Work. Geneva: International Labour Office;
Case A, Hosegood V & Lund F (2005) The reach and impact of Child Support Grants: evidence from KwaZulu-Natal. In: Development Southern Africa, 22(4), October 2005: 467-482;
Samson M, Lee U, Ndlebe A, Mac Quene K, Van Niekerk I, Ghandi V, Harigaya T & Abrahams C (2004) The Social and Economic Impact of South Africa’s Social Security System. Commissioned by the Department of Social Development. Cape Town: Economic Policy Research Institute.
2 DSD, SASSA and UNICEF (2016) Removing Barriers to Accessing Child Grants: Progress in reducing exclusion from South Africa’s Child Support Grant. Pretoria: UNICEF South Africa.
See also: SASSA and UNICEF (2013) Preventing Exclusion from the Child Support Grant: A study of exclusion errors in accessing CSG benefits; and see no. 6 above.
3 UNICEF and Joint SDG Fund (2022) An update study on the exclusion error rate for children who are eligible to receive the Child Support Grant. UNICEF and Joint SDG Fund.