· Built around the GEPF pension calculator
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Three sums decide a lot of household budgets in South Africa, and all three are set by the state: the pension a government worker gets from the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the SASSA grants that come in each month, and how much of a public school's fees a parent is let off. None of them is a guess - each has a published formula or amount. This post works through them with the GEPF pension, SASSA grants and school fee exemption calculators.
Run your own numbers
The GEPF calculator starts on the first example: a final salary of R400 000 a year, 25 years of service up to 31 August 2024 and 10 years after it, retiring at 60. Type your own salary and years from your benefit statement.
Checked against a published example
Every calculator in this post was run on the inputs of a published worked example or official amount and gave the same answer:
- GEPF, R400 000 final salary and 35 years: gratuity R940 800, pension about R255 000 a year - Maya on Money, The GEPF formula for calculating payouts, built on GEPF's 6.72% and 1/55 formula. Our GEPF calculator gives R940 800 and R254 905.45 a year (R254 545.45 + R360), which the article rounds to R255 000.
- GEPF two-pot, R300 000 final salary, 25 years vested plus 10 after 1 September 2024: gratuity R705 600 - Maya on Money, GEPF: Calculating your benefits under the two-pot system, scenario 1 with no withdrawals (R504 000 vested + R201 600 savings pot). Our calculator gives R705 600.
- SASSA: older person's, disability and care dependency grants R2 400, child support R580, foster child R1 300 from October 2026 - Budget Speech 2026, National Treasury. Our SASSA calculator gives R4 860 on the household below.
- School fees: R2 500 fees, R20 other payments, R30 000 income, one child gives E = 8.4%, a 91% exemption and R225 to pay - the exemption regulations' own illustration (Government Notice R1052, Annexure C). Our school fee exemption calculator gives 91% and R225.00.
No calculator needed a fix for this post.
Worked example 1: the GEPF pension and gratuity
- GEPF pays two things when you retire with 10 or more years of service: a once-off gratuity and a monthly pension for life (GEPF calculator).
- The gratuity is 6.72% of your final salary for each year of service - R400 000 x 6.72% x 35 = R940 800.
- The pension is 1/55 of your final salary for each year, plus R360 a year - R400 000 x 35 / 55 = R254 545.45, plus R360 = R254 905.45 a year, or R21 242.12 a month before tax.
- Final salary is not your last payslip - it is the average of your pensionable salary over your last two years. Pensionable salary is usually your basic pay, without the allowances.
- Retire at 55 instead of 60 and both are cut by a third of a percent for each month early: 60 months x 1/3% = 20%, so R752 640 and R16 999.70 a month.
- A teacher on R350 000 with 20 years, retiring at 60, gets R470 400 and R10 636.06 a month - R350 000 x 20 / 55 = R127 272.73 + R360 = R127 632.73 a year.
- Under 10 years of service there is no pension at all - only a once-off lump sum equal to your actuarial interest in the fund, which GEPF works out.
- The gratuity is taxed on the retirement lump sum table and the pension as income - run the R940 800 through the retirement lump sum tax calculator and the monthly pension through PAYE.
What two-pot did to GEPF
- Service up to 31 August 2024 is vested and works exactly as above - 25 years on R300 000 is R504 000 of gratuity.
- Service from 1 September 2024 is split: one third is savings service, two thirds retirement service. 10 years after that date is 3.333 years of savings service and 6.667 of retirement service.
- With no withdrawals the total comes out the same as the old formula: R504 000 + R201 600 = R705 600 on R300 000 and 35 years, as in the published example.
- Every savings-pot withdrawal you make now cuts the service, and so the gratuity, you retire with - see what a withdrawal really costs on the two-pot calculator.
Worked example 2: SASSA grants for one household
- From April 2026 the older person's, disability and care dependency grants are R2 400 a month, up R80 (SASSA grants calculator).
- The child support grant and grant-in-aid are R580, the war veteran's grant R2 420, and the foster child grant R1 290 from April and R1 300 from October 2026.
- A gogo of 66 with two grandchildren on the child support grant and one foster child: R2 400 + 2 x R580 + R1 300 = R4 860 a month, R58 320 a year.
- A pensioner couple both over 60 each get their own grant: 2 x R2 400 = R4 800 a month, if they pass the means test together.
- The SRD grant is R370 a month for unemployed adults aged 18 to 59 with no other grant.
- Every grant except the foster child grant is means tested on income and assets - the calculator adds up the amounts, it does not check whether you qualify.
Worked example 3: the school fee exemption
- The school works out E = 100 x (fees + other compulsory payments) / both parents' gross income (school fee exemption calculator).
- E of 10% or more means total exemption - you pay nothing. R2 500 + R20 on an income of R25 000 is 10.1%.
- Fees R2 500, other payments R20, income R30 000, one child: E = 100 x 2 520 / 30 000 = 8.4%, rounded up to 8.5% on the table, which gives a 91% exemption - R2 275 off, R225 to pay.
- The same fees on R28 000 with four children at fee-paying schools: E = 9.0% and the table gives 97% - the parent pays R75.
- Under 2% there is no exemption, however many children you have.
- A child on a SASSA grant is exempt automatically - no means test, so the household in example 2 pays no fees for any of the three children. Foster and kinship care and child-headed homes are exempt too.
- Apply to the school governing body, and appeal a refusal to the Head of Department of the provincial education department. No-fee schools charge nothing to begin with.
Not verified from a primary source: the GEPF worked examples are from Maya on Money, not from GEPF itself. GEPF's two-pot FAQ gives the savings pot as 6.72% x savings service and the retirement pot as 1/55 x retirement service without the multipliers that make the total equal the old formula - the calculator assumes no withdrawals and the same total. Whether the early-retirement cut applies to the gratuity as well as the pension is not spelt out on GEPF's site. The SRD amount of R370 is SASSA's figure, not restated in the Budget Speech, and sassa.gov.za could not be reached, so the means-test limits are not given here - check with SASSA on 0800 60 10 11. In the school fee table, rounding E up to the next 0.5% is shown only in the regulations' example, not stated as a rule.
What to do this month
- Government employee? Ask GEPF for your benefit statement and check the final salary and years of service against the GEPF calculator - and think twice before a savings-pot withdrawal.
- Caring for a child who gets a grant? Tell the school now - the exemption is automatic, but you have to apply for it.
- Paying fees on a low income? Work out E before the school's 2027 fee letters arrive, then budget what is left on the school fees calculator and the budget planner.
Sources
- National Treasury, Budget Speech 2026 (grant amounts from April and October 2026): treasury.gov.za, read by CalcSA 16 October 2026.
- GEPF, Two-pot retirement system FAQ (Q15, benefit formulas 6.72% and 1/55 plus R360): gepf.co.za, read 16 October 2026.
- GEPF, Retirement benefits (10 years' service, early retirement reduction): gepf.co.za, read 16 October 2026.
- Maya on Money, The GEPF formula for calculating payouts (R400 000, 35 years): mayaonmoney.co.za, read 16 October 2026.
- Maya on Money, GEPF: Calculating your benefits under the two-pot system (scenario 1): mayaonmoney.co.za, read 16 October 2026.
- Regulations for the Exemption of Parents from Payment of School Fees in Public Schools, Government Notice R1052, Government Gazette 29311 (18 October 2006), regulation 6 and Annexure C; table as replaced by Government Notice 1149, Gazette 29392 (17 November 2006): gov.za, read 16 October 2026.
Calculators used in this post
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