Child support stays at R580 as October payout lands on 6 October

The child support grant pays R580 in October, unchanged, and the money reaches pay points on Tuesday 6 October. For the households that live on it, the wait from the last September pay date runs to 32 days.

Older persons are paid a week earlier, on Friday 2 October. That gap between the two dates is where the strain sits this month, because the childcare grants carry the largest number of beneficiaries of any social protection programme in the country, at roughly 13 million people across the three grants.

What each grant pays

The agency has given no notice of a change, so the amounts stand as they were set in April.

Child support pays R580, which was R560 before April. Foster child pays R1 290, up from R1 250. Care dependency, the disability grant for children under 18, pays R2 400, up from R2 320.

There has been talk that foster care could move from R1 290 to R1 300, but the agency has not made that official. If it did, it would raise an obvious question from every other beneficiary about why one grant moved and the rest did not.

The child support grant has not increased for two consecutive years.

The child support grant has not increased for two consecutive years, and the budgeting behind it points the other way. The agency wants to cut the number of child support beneficiaries by 696 000 over the next two years, and the National Treasury, which sets the money the agency works with, wants the roll to fall to 248 000 in 2026, 232 000 in 2027 and 216 000 in 2028.

Who still qualifies

The means test has moved in applicants’ favour. A single caregiver on child support could previously earn R5 100 a month and still qualify. That ceiling is now R5 800. For a married couple caring for a child, the limit rose from R10 200 to R11 600 a month.

Over a year that works out to R69 600 for a single person and R139 200 for a couple. The child support means test has no asset component, unlike the older persons grant.

Most childcare grant applications can be approved the same day, according to the agency. The waiting period used to run to three months, so the same-day decision is a real improvement for anyone who has queued for a grant and then waited a season for an answer.

What to bring, and what happens if it goes wrong

Applicants should arrive with a valid identity document, preferably a smart ID card with biometrics, and birth certificates for themselves, the child and a spouse if they are married. Proof of marital status is needed, being a marriage certificate or, where it applies, a birth or death certificate for a spouse. Proof of income for both applicant and spouse is required, along with a certified bank statement covering three months and no older than three months, and proof of address such as a utility statement in the applicant’s name, also no older than three months.

An incomplete file means being sent away to return another day. A refused application can be appealed to the Department of Social Development within three months.

The agency can be reached on its toll-free line, 0800 60 10 11, at head office on 012 400 2322, or by email at grantenquiries@sassa.gov.za. Its service portal is also open for enquiries.

The next dated step is the payment run itself, older persons on Friday 2 October and childcare grants on Tuesday 6 October.

Source: The South African, LATEST outlook for SASSA Childcare Grants in October 2026