Government cancels 3.7 million Bolsa Família beneficiaries

The Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) confirmed this Monday (15) that 3.7 million Bolsa Família beneficiaries were canceled throughout 2023, as part of a fine-tooth comb it carried out in the program since the beginning of the president’s government. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

In addition to the cancellations, the CGU also blocked another 4.7 million for investigation and updating the beneficiaries’ registration. According to the agency, the blocking and cancellation is part of a “reconstruction process” that the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS) has been carrying out in the Single Registry to “correct distortions in the payment of the transfer program of income from the previous government, highlighted by the CGU and the Federal Audit Court (TCU), in addition to several investigations in the Judiciary”.

“The registration investigation process detected more than 17 million outdated or inconsistent registrations. This number includes people who declared themselves as a single-person family, but were actually part of larger families, to beneficiaries who have already died or with income above the Bolsa Família eligibility rules”, said the CGU in a note.

According to the agency, 21.3 million families were served on average throughout 2023, compared to 19.2 million in 2022 by Auxílio Brasil. “Federal investment also recorded in 2023 the highest volume of resources since the beginning of the program: it was R$14.1 billion per month, compared to R$7.8 billion in the previous year”.

Also according to the CGU, since Bolsa Família was re-implemented in the country, in March last year, 2.85 million families have been included in the Single Registry based on an active search.

On the other hand, blocked registrations do not automatically mean the cancellation of the benefit, which remains pending until regularization. “Once the reason for blocking the benefit has been resolved and the family continues to have a vulnerable profile under the program, the family will return to receiving the benefit normally, including the amounts they were unable to withdraw during the block,” said the CGU.

“The blocking of the Bolsa Família family benefit has the effect of: encouraging the family to clarify or regularize the situations identified in family monitoring and follow-up, which led to the blocking of the benefit; prevent the withdrawal of available installments that have not yet been withdrawn to date, until the identified situation is regularized; and prevent the withdrawal of new installments generated for subsequent months, until the identified situation is regularized”, added the agency.

Of the blocked and canceled registrations, the majority (44.67%) are in the Northeast, followed by the Southeast (35.89%).