In case you receive your social relief of distress grant from the SA Post Office (SAPO), it is important to know the SASSA SRD payment dates for December 2021.
SAPO published the payment schedule on its website earlier this year. The schedule outlines SRD pay days throughout the R350 grant’s duration until March next year and is arranged according to the last three digits of recipients’ ID numbers.
Post Office SASSA SRD payment dates for December 2021
Post Office recipients of the grant can view their SASSA SRD payment dates for December 2021 in the table below:
| Payment date | Last 3 digits of ID number |
|---|---|
| 1 December | No payment |
| 2 December | No payment |
| 3 December | No payment |
| 6 December | 080 and 085 |
| 7 December | 081 and 086 |
| 8 December | 082 and 087 |
| 9 December | 083 and 088 |
| 10 December | 084 and 089 |
| 13 December | 080 and 085 |
| 14 December | 081 and 086 |
| 15 December | 082 and 087 |
| 16 December | No payment |
| 17 December | 083 and 088 |
| 20 December | 084 and 089 |
| 21 December | 080 and 085 |
| 22 December | 081 and 086 |
| 23 December | 082 and 087 |
| 24 December | No payment |
| 27 December | No payment |
| 28 December | 083 and 088 |
| 29 December | 084 and 089 |
| 30 December | 080 and 085 |
| 31 December | No payment |
To view or download the full schedule, visit SAPO’s website here.
SRD grant to end in March 2022
Meanwhile, the government has confirmed that while the R350 SRD grant will be coming to an end in March 2022, there are discussions about a “social safety net.”
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana made the announcement while presenting his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement earlier in November.
“Overall, the South African government is acknowledged as having one of the most comprehensive and expansive social security systems in the world, and there are ongoing discussions about the social safety net,” Godongwana said.
“Details on our interventions with regards to the social security net will be provided in the February 2022 Budget.”
The SRD grant has benefitted around 9.5 million South Africans over and above the normal social grants. Overall, a total of 27.8 million South Africans are on social grants, representing 46 percent of the population.
There have been calls from some sections of society to either extend the R350 grant beyond March 2022 or use it as a basis for a basic income grant.
Earlier reports suggested that National Treasury was considering implementing a “family grant” in place of the SRD grant, but this proposal is said to have encountered resistance from the Presidency.
A “family grant” would be given to the head of a household as a way of reducing costs to the fiscus, but civil society groups have slammed it because it would reduce the number of beneficiaries, especially women.