Bolsa Família Card: program provides an extra R$ 50 to pregnant women and dependents from 7 to 18 from June.| Photo: Disclosure/MDS

The new program package Bolsa Familia starts to be paid from this Monday (19). Consisting of a set of 5 benefits (Citizenship Income, Complementary, Early Childhood, Family Variable and Extraordinary Transition, the latter on a temporary basis), payment can be requested by families with income of up to R$ 218 per personwith a minimum receipt of R$ 600 per beneficiary.

The decree that regulates the program (11,566) was signed this Friday (16) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Since March, families with children up to six years old receive an additional R$150 for each one, according to the rules of the Early Childhood benefit. And as of this month, an additional R$ 50 is expected for pregnant women and families with children and adolescents from 7 to 18 years old.

But despite these additions, the program has recently suffered cuts. In April, the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS) suspended the benefit of 1.2 million peoples who reported living alone – the “one-person” records. The argument was to remove the “irregular registrations”. The withdrawal would save the government R$ 7 billion.

O average ticket received per family will reach R$ 705.40 in June, according to the MDS. Still according to the ministry, Bolsa Família currently reaches 21.2 million families, reaching a budget of R$ 14.97 billion in June.