Rules for managing the new Bolsa Familia released

Last month, President Lula sanctioned Law No. 14,601, which establishes the program’s new format. On the occasion, he announced that – to be part of Bolsa Família – the individual income of members of a beneficiary family would increase to R$ 218, increasing the number of families affected by the program.

Based on this rule, the ordinance published today details the composition of the amounts to be paid to families, the main one being the Citizenship Income Benefit (BRC), which is currently R$ 142 per person.

As the federal government has committed to paying a minimum amount of BRL 600 per family, in the case of smaller families, the Complementary Benefit (BCO) is included in the amount to be paid.

Values

The Bolsa Família will also include the Early Childhood Benefit (BPI) – which grants BRL 150 per child aged between zero and six years – and the Family Variable Benefit (BVF), of BRL 50, which can be of the Variable Benefit type. Pregnant Family (BVG), for pregnant women; Nutriz Family Variable Benefit (BVN), for children under seven months old; Child Family Variable Benefit (BV), for children or adolescents aged between seven years and incomplete 16 years; and Adolescent Family Variable Benefit (BVA), for adolescents between 16 and 18 years of age.

The Extraordinary Transition Benefit (BET) ensures that there is no reduction in the benefit received until then, and only enters the composition if the calculation value in May 2023 is higher than the total calculation of the current parameters.

In addition to detailing the benefits, the ordinance defines how the benefit should be distributed in each state and in the Federal District, according to budgetary and financial availability, defined by the Annual Budget Law, and the number of poor families in the municipalities, calculated according to the methodology defined by the National Secretariat for Income and Citizenship (Senarc).

Enrollment

The document also defines the criteria for qualification, eligibility, selection and granting of Bolsa Família. These processes ensure that registered families, who are in accordance with the eligibility rules, with updated data in the Single Registry for Social Programs of the Federal Government (Single Registry) and income limit, can be included and start receiving the benefit.

In this case, a card is issued for the head of household to withdraw the money each month.

Administrative actions

The release, blocking, suspension, cancellation and reversal of any of these actions are managed by the municipalities, through the Citizen Benefits System (Sibec), which – in case of access difficulties – has alternative rules and forms established by the ordinance.

These measures may occur when documentation is pending, when there is a case of death or when there is non-compliance with rules, such as identification of child labor in the family structure, for example.

The benefits may also partially cease, when the term expires, as is the case of a teenager who turns 19 and the family stops receiving only the Variable Family Benefit Adolescent (BVA) from that individual.

The new rules come into effect today, with the exception of some mechanisms that need a longer period for verification, such as the CPF (Individual Taxpayers’ Registry), already registered in an irregular situation at the Federal Revenue’s base, for example. For these cases, the ordinance takes effect from 2024.