Nepal Social Security Allowance (Samajik Suraksha Bhatta): Complete Guide and Rate Table

The Social Security Allowance, known in Nepali as Samajik Suraksha Bhatta, is Nepal's flagship non-contributory cash transfer programme. It pays a regular cash benefit from general government revenue to defined vulnerable groups, with no requirement that the recipient ever contributed to a fund. This makes it fundamentally different from the contributory Social Security Fund (SSF), into which employers and employees pay monthly contributions in exchange for later benefits.

The allowance is grounded in the Social Security Act, 2075 (2018) and related legislation such as the Senior Citizens Act, 2063 (2006). The law provides for allowances to senior citizens, helpless single women, citizens with disabilities, children who are destitute, citizens unable to care for themselves, and citizens belonging to ethnic groups on the verge of extinction. Headline monthly rates are set by the Government of Nepal and published by the Department of National ID and Civil Registration (DoNIDCR).

The programme is one of Nepal's largest social-protection instruments, reaching millions of beneficiaries nationwide. Because it is universal within each eligible category (rather than means-tested in most cases), it functions as a broad social floor for the elderly, disabled, widowed, and very young.

The allowance is paid at different monthly rates depending on the category the beneficiary falls into. The figures below reflect the rates published by DoNIDCR for the recent fiscal year. They are quoted as monthly amounts but are paid out in lump-sum instalments covering several months at a time.

Eligibility depends on age, social category, and possession of the correct identity documents. The senior-citizen old-age allowance was historically set at age 70, but the minimum eligibility age for the general old-age allowance was lowered to 68 in the FY 2079/80 (2022) budget. Dalit citizens and residents of the former Karnali zone qualify earlier, from age 60, reflecting historic disadvantage and lower life expectancy.

Single-woman and widow eligibility covers women who are widowed, divorced, legally separated, or unmarried; widows can qualify regardless of age, while other single women generally qualify from age 60. Disability eligibility is tied to the colour-coded national disability identity card, and only the two most severe categories receive the allowance.

Possessing a valid citizenship certificate and a category-appropriate identity card is essential — citizens who have not obtained the relevant identity card cannot receive the allowance. Applications are lodged at the applicable local level (ward or municipality), which is required to process them within a short statutory window.

The Child Grant (sometimes called the child nutrition grant) is the smallest of the allowances by value but an important child-protection measure. It pays Rs 532 per month per eligible child, for a maximum of two children per family.

The programme began in 2009 in five districts of the Karnali region and has since expanded. It now covers children under five in a set of designated districts as well as Dalit children under five nationwide. Studies by United Nations agencies and academics have credited the grant with raising birth-registration rates and helping poor families afford food, clothing, and other essentials.

Child-rights organisations have repeatedly urged the government to expand the Child Grant toward universal coverage of all young children, noting that for several years it reached well under half of Nepali children under five.

The Social Security Allowance is administered and disbursed by local governments — the ward offices, municipalities and rural municipalities — rather than directly by the central treasury. DoNIDCR maintains the official rate schedule and the underlying civil-registration and vital-events data on which eligibility depends.

Although rates are expressed monthly, the money is not paid out every month. It is aggregated and distributed in instalments, typically every three to four months (i.e. roughly quarterly, three times a year). For example, a senior citizen on Rs 4,000 per month receives a single payment of Rs 12,000 covering a three-month period.

Disbursement has progressively moved onto the banking system, with allowances paid into beneficiaries' bank accounts rather than as cash over the counter. This digitisation, supported by development partners, aims to cut leakage and improve transparency while linking payments to verified national-ID and civil-registration records.

It is important not to confuse the Social Security Allowance with the Social Security Fund (SSF). The allowance is non-contributory and categorical: it is funded from general government revenue and paid to people because of their age, disability, widowhood, ethnicity or childhood status, regardless of any past contributions.

The SSF, by contrast, is a contributory social-insurance scheme created under the same Social Security Act, 2075. Under the SSF, employers and employees pay monthly contributions (a percentage of basic salary) and members earn benefits such as medical, maternity, accident, disability and old-age pension entitlements tied to those contributions.

In short, the Samajik Suraksha Bhatta is a social-assistance safety net for vulnerable groups, while the SSF is a contributory social-insurance system primarily for formal-sector workers. Many Nepali households interact with both: a working contributor to the SSF may have an elderly parent who simultaneously draws the old-age Social Security Allowance.