Meal vouchers and food may be regulated in 2025

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, assured in a meeting with associations this Wednesday (2) that the government promises to regulate meal and food vouchers at the beginning of 2025. The information was released by Metropolises and confirmed by People’s Gazette.

At the meeting, the associations highlighted some points that need to be regulated in the Workers’ Food Program (PAT), such as portability and interoperability. The two possibilities introduced by the new PAT Law stimulate competition and should lead to reduced fees for workers and restaurants.

The new changes were implemented from May this year, and the worker now has the right to choose which operator he wants to receive the food and/or meal benefit from and request portability free of charge from the company’s HR.

Furthermore, the benefit can be paid using registered cards. In other words, the card will be accepted at any establishment with a card machine, and not just at accredited locations in the benefits operator’s closed network.

However, the rules on the correct execution of both portability and interoperability of benefit cards are under discussion. The government’s expectation is that they will be defined at the beginning of next year.

The meeting was attended by associations of banks (ABBC), restaurants (ANR), payment institutions (Abipag), technology companies (Câmara-e.net) and financial institutions (Zetta).

Meal vouchers do not keep up with price increases, says research

A survey by Pluxee, a company in the benefits and employee engagement segment, showed that the average price of a meal in Brazil increased to R$51.61 in 2024. An increase of almost R$20 since 2019.

According to the survey, released in September, the amounts received by workers as part of the meal voucher benefit did not follow this price increase.

Between January and July this year, the durability of the popular RVs was 11 days. In 2019, before the pandemic, the benefit lasted, on average, 18 days, covering almost all 22 working days of work. This means, therefore, that a considerable part of the worker’s monthly salary is being allocated to supplement the meal.

The Pluxee survey also showed the durability of meal vouchers in some states of the federation. The state with the shortest duration, with just eight days, is Roraima. Next come the states of Acre, Alagoas, Mato Grosso, Pará and Piauí, with 9 days. In the states of Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Sergipe and Tocantins, the benefit extends for 10 days.

The 11-day average occurs in Bahia, Goiás, Espírito Santo and Paraíba. Meanwhile, Amazonas, Amapá, Distrito Federal, Pernambuco, Paraná, Rondônia and Santa Catarina have a VR lasting 12 days.

In Ceará, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the meal voucher lasts 13 days, and Minas Gerais stands out with the longest duration, reaching 14 days.