Government excludes 1.5 million families and defines Bolsa Família registration review

About 1.5 million families will be excluded from the Bolsa Família program this month after a fine-tooth comb carried out by the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance (MDS), according to data released this Friday morning (3) by Minister Wellington Dias. The program was relaunched on Thursday (2) with the payment of R$ 600 along with two more benefits from the 20th.

In addition to excluding beneficiaries who allegedly received the aid irregularly, the MDS defined new rules for reviewing the program’s records, published earlier in the Official Gazette. There are about 10 million families that must undergo the update, 4.9 million of which are single-person households. The expectation is to finish the review at the end of the year.

According to the minister, the families excluded this month had irregularities found from the crossing of data from the Cadastro Único (CadÚnico) base with other federal government records, with 393,000 of sole beneficiaries – families with only one member. With this, the program will save R$ 471 million in the March payment.

“We found people with an income of five, six minimum wages [recebendo o benefício]. However, we are taking care to work safely, both for the entry and removal of families. And there is a work that will continue with the visits in each municipality to verify the Single Registry data”, he said.

The ministry also informed that a mechanism was created for individual beneficiaries to voluntarily withdraw from the program. Until this Friday (3), there were four thousand requests among “those who already received and those who claimed access to the Bolsa Família”, said Letícia Bartholo de Oliveira e Silva, secretary of evaluation, information management and CadÚnico.

On the other hand, for the March payment, the government was able to identify and allow the entry of 694.2 thousand families that still did not receive the benefit, totaling more than 20.9 million beneficiaries (around 55 million people) with an expenditure of BRL 14 billion – an average payment of BRL 260 per person, said Wellington Dias.

In addition to expanding Bolsa Família, the ministry will also work on the socioeconomic inclusion of beneficiaries, opening up employment or entrepreneurship opportunities through the availability of credit and necessary conditions.

Review of beneficiary records

The MDS also defined that families with outdated registration records will be invited, following a schedule for review according to the last update (see in full):

• 2016 or 2017 – Convocation started in February.
• 2018, 2019 or 2020 – call from December.
• 2021 – summons in 2024.

Letícia Bartholo said that payments begin to be blocked in May for those who were summoned to update their registration as of February.

“The managing body of the Cadastro Único at the federal level will identify and select the records with inconsistent data regarding family composition, death or income of each member of the family, or any other inconsistencies identified”, says the Ministry’s ordinance.

The ordinance also allows agents to make a “home visit” to update the register of families indicated by the CadÚnico managing body, following criteria to be defined.

“12,000 people will be hired to update the registration, who will be trained, and also the active search for people who are not yet on Bolsa Família and who were entitled and were not assisted”, said Wellington Dias.

According to him, R$ 199.5 million will be transferred to municipalities for this contract, in addition to another R$ 200 million per month for the management of Bolsa Família and CadÚnico.

Also according to the ministry, families who have identified inconsistencies in income or family composition will no longer participate in the program:

1- income inconsistency:
Families benefiting from the Auxílio Brasil or whatever replaces it in which the income is higher than ½ minimum wage after recalculation based on the records in the National Register of Social Information (CNIS).
Families not benefiting from the Auxílio Brasil or whatever replaces it in which the per capita monthly family income is greater than R$ 210 after the recalculation based on the CNIS records.

2- inconsistency of family composition:
Single-person records with per capita monthly family income greater than ½ (half) minimum wage.

According to the MDS, other target audiences will be defined for inclusion in the program’s benefit processes, in addition to establishing exceptions for the inclusion of families. For this, he says, a cadastral investigation of income and single-person registration will be carried out.

New rules for accessing Bolsa Família

The resumption of Bolsa Família also saw the reformulation of access rules, such as income limits, monitoring of the national vaccination schedule, nutritional monitoring and school attendance of children, among others (see in full).

According to the MDS, the income to join Bolsa Família was revised and increased from R$210 to R$218. immediately after exceeding the limit for joining the program – up to half a minimum wage.

The protection rule determines that the family can remain in the program for up to 24 months, receiving 50% of the benefit amount. “If someone is on Bolsa Família and gets a job with a formal contract, we are notified and we examine that income. If it exceeds the per capita minimum wage, we are notified by the employment system and the person leaves Bolsa Família, but does not leave the Single Registry”, explained Minister Wellington Dias on Thursday (2), during the relaunch of the program.

The program also defined that families that voluntarily disconnect from Bolsa Família or lose income and need to return to the program will have priority in their return.

It was also defined that the MDS will make agreements with the Federal Public Prosecution Service (MPF), the Federal Audit Court (TCU), the Federal Comptroller General’s Office (CGU) and other control bodies to ensure the inspection of CadÚnico and Bolsa Família.