According to Circular No. 15 of 2025, the Department of Public Service and Administration has officially announced an upward adjustment to the housing allowance for public servants.
The revised allowance, implemented in accordance with the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2025, will take effect on 1 April 2025.
Effective from that date, the monthly housing allowance for qualifying public servants will increase from R1784.55 to R1900.00.
The housing allowance, as contained in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 7 of 2015 (clause 4.6), provides that the amount of the housing allowance shall be adjusted annually based on the average Consumer Price Index (CPI), for the preceding financial year.
The policy on housing allowance also outlines specific conditions for employees who do not own a home:
• Tenants with legal rental agreements appointed before 27 May 2015 will continue to receive a direct R900.00 monthly allowance. The remaining R1000.00 will be saved in the Government Employees Housing Scheme’s (GEHS) Individual-Linked Savings Facility (ILSF), which is managed by the National Treasury.
• Employees appointed on or after 27 May 2015 will have the full R1900.00 housing allowance diverted into the ILSF, promoting savings towards future homeownership.
PERSAL has been directed to effect the adjustments on the system to ensure seamless implementation, while national and provincial departments are expected to fund these increases from their existing budget allocations.
The GEHS, along with the annual subsidy adjustments, reflects Government’s ongoing commitment to improving the living conditions of public servants and to encouraging responsible homeownership through structured savings mechanisms
