Editorial policy

Seven rules we follow on every page

These seven rules apply to every page on SassaCheck, and each one is something you can hold us to.

1. Primary sources only. Every amount, threshold, deadline and status definition is checked against sassa.gov.za, srd.sassa.gov.za, a Department of Social Development publication, or a Government Gazette. Every claim carries a source and the date we checked it.
2. Visible dates. Every page shows when it was published and when a person last read it. The review date is the day a person actually read the page, not the day the site was rebuilt.
3. No paid placement. We do not take payment to feature a grant, a service, a "helper" or a website. We do not sell links.
4. Not a government body. Every page carries the independence statement. SassaCheck is not SASSA, and we cannot approve, decline or change any grant.
5. Corrections within five business days. Email hello@sassacheck.org.za. We look into the claim, update the page if we got it wrong, and where the error was material we add a dated correction notice. A correction notice is never quietly deleted.
6. No ghost bylines and no unreviewed machine text. We do not invent authors and we do not publish filler from other sites. If a page was drafted with machine help, a person checked every fact in it against a primary source before it went live.
7. Observed is not the same as confirmed. When we report a pattern we have seen ourselves and SASSA has not published it, we label it "Observed" and say what we saw.

How we cite sources

Every factual page ends with a visible Sources block that names at least two primary sources and the date we checked each one.

The block is short. It names the body, the document and the link, and it dates the check. You should be able to open the source and see the same fact for yourself.

The format we use

The block follows one shape, so you always know where to look for the date and the link.

What we will not cite

We refuse three kinds of source, and the list is short on purpose.

• Another checker site. If a fact is worth publishing, it is worth checking at the source.
• Ourselves. A SassaCheck page is never the source for a SassaCheck fact.
• A page we cannot date. If we cannot say when we checked it, we do not use it.

When SASSA has not published something

We say so and we date the gap. If a payment date or a schedule is not out yet, the page says that SASSA had not published it when we last checked, and it gives that date. We would rather tell you it is missing than fill the space with a guess.

What "Observed" means on SassaCheck

Observed means we saw a pattern ourselves and SASSA has not published an explanation for it.

We use the label only for a claim we inferred rather than read in a government publication. When we use it, we say what we saw and when we saw it. We never present an observation as a statement from SASSA.

If SASSA later publishes the fact, we replace the observation with the sourced version, add the source to the page and update the review date.

Review dates and bylines

Every content page names the desk that reviewed it and the date a person last read it.

Each page has two dates: when it was first published and when it was last reviewed. The review date is not the date the site was built. A build can run every day. A review happens when someone actually reads the page and checks it against its sources.

Each page also has one modified date, taken from the last content change to that page, not from the build time. If the page has not changed, the date has not changed either.

We publish under the byline SassaCheck Editorial rather than individual names. We do not invent authors, use borrowed photographs, or list a reviewer who does not exist. Every guide shows the desk and the review date, so you can see that a person read it and when.

How to get a correction made

Email hello@sassacheck.org.za with the page address and what you think is wrong, and we will review it within five business days.

1. Tell us the page, the sentence and the source you are relying on. A link to the source is the fastest route.
2. We reply within five business days. If we need longer to check a source, we tell you that and give you a date.
3. If we got it wrong, we fix the page, update the review date, and add a dated correction notice where the error was material.
4. If we got it right, we tell you why and point you to the source we used.

A correction notice stays on the page. We do not delete it quietly, and we do not edit a page to hide that it changed.

A broken link to a SASSA page counts as a correction, not housekeeping. A dead source is no source.

How we are funded

For status-check data, security-record retention and advertising cookies, read our privacy policy and cookie policy.

We do not take payment to feature a grant, a service, a "helper" or a website, and we do not sell links. We cannot approve or speed up a grant, so there is no paid service we could honestly offer.

If we add advertising later, it will not appear on the status check card, on the legal pages, or on the page that answers whether SassaCheck is legit. We will say so on this page and in the cookie policy before any change goes live.

Operator details and how to ask for them

We do not publish the operator's company name, registration number, address, Information Officer name or regulator numbers on this site.

Operator, registration and Information Officer details are available on request. Contact us at hello@sassacheck.org.za.

Ask, and we will send them in writing. That covers the registered entity, its registration number, the registered address, the Information Officer, and the Information Regulator registration.

This page explains how we write and check pages. It is not a company register. If your question is about who runs the site, email us and we will answer it directly.

SassaCheck has no social media profiles at launch. If an account claims to be us, it is not us. The only place to reach us is hello@sassacheck.org.za.

We are not SASSA and we do not act for SASSA

SassaCheck is an independent publisher and has no connection to SASSA, the Department of Social Development or the South African government.

We cannot approve, decline, suspend or reinstate a grant, and we cannot change your banking details. Nobody outside SASSA can do any of those things.

You can check your SRD status at srd.sassa.gov.za without us. It does the same check and costs nothing. If you would rather not use an independent site at all, use it.

If you need to speak to SASSA, the toll-free number is 0800 60 10 11. The SRD WhatsApp number is 082 046 8553 and the SRD email address is srd@sassa.gov.za.

For more on who we are, read about SassaCheck, how the status check works, and why our domain contains "sassa". You can also check your SRD status here.

Questions about this policy

Email hello@sassacheck.org.za with any question about this page, and the answers below cover the ones we get most often.

Sources (checked 29 October 2026)

These are the SASSA pages this policy points you to, each checked on the date shown.

• SASSA: SRD status check, srd.sassa.gov.za/sc19/status. Checked 29 October 2026.
• SASSA: SRD appeals, srd.sassa.gov.za/appeals/appeal. Checked 29 October 2026.
• SASSA: grant information and contact details, sassa.gov.za. Checked 29 October 2026.

If any of these links no longer work, tell us and we will fix it. Email hello@sassacheck.org.za.

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026 by SassaCheck Editorial.