Bolsa Família: find out how to maintain the benefit during review – 02/12/2024 – Market

The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger included another 7 million families in the Cadúnico (Cadastro Único) registration review in 2024, whether or not they are beneficiaries of Bolsa Família.

There are two procedures: review and registration investigation. The review covers records that are more than 24 months out of date, and the investigation checks for inconsistencies in income, employment or family composition. The same family can be involved in both processes depending on their situation.

CadÚnico is an essential step to claim assistance income through social programs such as Bolsa Família, BPC (Continuous Payment Benefit), Social Electricity Tariff and Elderly Person’s Card, among others.

According to the MDS, families that are in the vadastral qualification action must contact Cras (Social Assistance Reference Center) or the municipal management of the Single Registry to update their data. Some will need the update to be carried out at home.

Since January 11, 2024, municipalities have already had access to family lists or to consult data through the Single Registry Management Portal and must follow the update schedule available in normative instruction no. 5, of January 4 2024.

The ministry states that “qualification actions need to be continuous, to ensure that the Single Registry reflects the reality of families”, distributing income to those who really need it.

The review of CadÚnico carried out last year led to the reduction of 1.7 million single-person families from the list of beneficiaries. They are families of one person, who were receiving the benefit irregularly or were part of a larger family, but made the wrong choice.

WHO WILL UNDERGO A REGISTRATION INVESTIGATION?

The cadastral investigation includes updated and outdated records and families in the following situations were included in the investigation:

• Records in which at least one person in the family was identified as a pensioner or municipal, state or federal public servant, which present discrepancies in the declared income information

• Single-person families with income of up to half a monthly minimum wage per person

• Families with an income of up to half a monthly minimum wage per person who have people identified as residing abroad and who have not been included or updated in the Single Registry;

• Families with an income of up to half a monthly minimum wage per person with records of at least one person whose Cadúnico income was automatically changed by the Cnis (National Register of Social Information), excluded due to the person’s separation from the family and without scheduling the update carried out at home.

In the case of single-person families, the following cases are exceptions to participation in the investigation:

• Indigenous and quilombolas
• Homeless people
• People registered by Legal Responsible
• Registrations with cohabiting family marking
• Individual registrations that have been completed have already sent the mandatory documents
• BPC beneficiaries
• People rescued from slave-like work
• Families of recyclable material collectors
• Families that had the inclusion or the last registration update with a home interview

WHO WILL UNDERGO REGISTRATION REVIEW?

Outdated records were included regardless of whether the family was a beneficiary of a social program.

Families included in more than one of the qualification processes, being in the registration review, due to outdated data, and in the registration investigation, due to inconsistent family composition data.

IRREGULARITY IN THE CPF CAN LEAD TO THE BLOCKING OF BOLSA FAMÍLIA

Since January this year, Bolsa Família beneficiaries who have any inconsistencies in their CPF (Individual Taxpayer Registration) data in CadÚnico (Cadastro Único) may lose the social benefit. The measure attempts to ensure that payment only goes to those who strictly comply with the established criteria.

If the situation is not resolved within six months, benefits are cancelled.

Families with registration irregularities will be notified about the status of their CPF and how to regularize the situation. The notification will be reinforced by messages sent through the benefit payment statement, in the Bolsa Família and Caixa Tem program applications.

To check the status of your CPF, simply:

• Access the Federal Revenue website
• Click on “Consult CPF”
• Enter the document number and the holder’s date of birth
• Then click on “Consult” again; proof of CPF registration status will be generated
• If there are pending issues, click on “My CPF”
• Then “Update CPF”
• And then click on “Regularize CPF”
• The beneficiary can carry out the regularization via email from the IRS in their state, via an online form or at a face-to-face service point. After this, the pending process is automatically removed from Sibec (Citizen Benefits System).

The benefit holder’s document cannot:

• Being suspended due to outdated data at the Federal Revenue Service
• Suspended due to lack of justification for voting in elections
• Canceled due to judicial blocking in the name of the holder
• Canceled for names with more than one CPF
• Pending for not delivering the annual Income Tax declaration to those who are obliged
• Have ownership divergence