SASSA Old-Age Grant sliding scale income assessment, Digi Mart USA News: SASSA pensioners are questioning a R670 shortfall from the full R2,400 Old-Age Grant. Is it illegal deductions or something worse?
The South African has received regular messages from SASSA pensioners about the status of their payouts. One such reader, Davemarie, asked why his SASSA payment was R1,730 and not the full R2,400 the publication reports on monthly.
He investigated his bank statements and reported that the R670 gap was not due to illegal deductions, as many would expect. The reader confirmed that a SASSA employee in Bethlehem had set the amount for him, first at just over R1,500, then increased to R1,730.
There is, in fact, a sliding scale built into the rules for SASSA pensioners that few beneficiaries know about. The South African Social Security Agency Old-Age Grant is not necessarily a flat payment of R2,400 for beneficiaries aged 60 to 74.
The regulations use a formula in which D is the annual grant payable, A is the maximum annual grant (R28,800, or R2,400 a month), and B is the beneficiary’s annual income.
Under this assessment, if assessed income is under about R3,600 a month (R43,200 a year) for a single person, the beneficiary receives the full R2,400. However, the grant falls by 40 cents for every extra rand of income above that level.
Very few people are aware of this aspect of the grant system.
According to the publication, Davemarie’s situation is consistent with this formula based on his likely income. Reversing the formula, R1,730 a month points to an assessed income of about R5,275 a month, or R63,300 a year.
Against the previous grant amount, this matches his reported figure of just over R1,500. The R85 increase this year for SASSA pensioners raised the grant by 1.6 times, or R136, bringing it to R1,730, so both figures match.
Much of the controversy centers on what the agency counts as income. Currently, this includes salaries, private pensions, rental income, annuities, interest and maintenance payments.
SASSA pensioners with some form of private income can still receive a reduced grant without being in the wrong. Any increase to the full amount is scaled the same way, in this case 1.6 times the full amount.
The publication asks readers whether they receive a scaled-down SASSA grant, how much, and whether the agency made this clear to them. Readers are invited to share their thoughts in the comments section.
