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The R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant should be increased to a minimum of R413, in line with inflation, according to the Institute for ...

In response to GroundUp’s questions, spokesperson for the Department of Social Development Lumka Oliphant acknowledged that the value of the SRD grant was low. The IEJ and SERI recommended that the means test be raised to the upper bound food poverty line of R1,417. [comments](https://www.iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/iej-seri_submission-srd-grant-regulations_7-march-2023.pdf), the IEJ and SERI said that the value of the SRD grant was “highly inadequate”. The IEJ and SERI said that some people have been excluded from the bank verification process because of outdated information, such as beneficiaries who were excluded due to inaccurate UIF or SARS information. The latest figure from February 2023, shows that 13.7-million people applied for the grant and just over 8.2-million were approved. [Read the original here](https://www.groundup.org.za/article/covid-grant-should-be-increased-to-at-least-r413-argue-civil-society-groups/). “We acknowledge that there were some challenges during the initial implementation phase. [Liezl Human](https://www.groundup.org.za/author/494/). The department is also working on a proposal to introduce a basic income grant which has been widely supported by civil society organisations. Since the grant was introduced in 2020, high inflation has eroded its value substantially in real terms. The value of the grant should be raised immediately to at least R413 to account for inflation since 2020, and a plan put in place to increase it progressively until it reaches the current food poverty line.” The organisations noted with concern that the only aspect under review for amendment was the “expiry date” of the grant.