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Currently, Bolsa Família It stands as Brazil's main social program, providing support to countless low-income families through financial transfers starting at R$ 600. The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger (MDS) is tightening the program's rules, focusing especially on the significant growth in single-person registrations.
For those unfamiliar, single-person families consist of a single individual. Therefore, these records refer to people who live alone and are beneficiaries of Bolsa Família.
Although the social program allows these registrations, since the end of 2021, when Auxílio Brasil replaced the program, there has been a significant and rapid surge in the number of single-person families.
Thus, even without irrefutable evidence of fraud, the government began questioning this high influx of registrations of people living alone. According to experts, members of the same family began creating single-person registrations to maximize Bolsa Família payments within the same household.
Government Actions Taken
Read also: Bolsa Família Beneficiaries Receive Payments Without Calendar Restrictions
In an attempt to curb registration fraud, a federal government initiative instituted a restriction for such families in the program. On August 25 of the current year, the MDS published Ordinance 911 in the Official Gazette of the Union, establishing a ceiling of 16% for single-person Bolsa Família registrations in each city.
If the city has already exceeded the 16% rate, no one will be removed from the program, but the inclusion of new single-person families in the payroll will be suspended.
This 16% ceiling aims to reflect the proportion of Brazilians who live alone, according to the latest statistics from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), which in 2022 showed that 15.9% of Brazilian households were occupied by a single person.
It is crucial to mention that, prior to Ordinance 911, the government was already exploring other strategies to eliminate fraud in the Benefit, conducting thorough checks in the CadÚnico system, used for registrations in social programs.
Information sent by the MDS to CNN reveals that the total number of single-person families in Bolsa Família grew by 73% in the last year, compared with 2021.
Will There Be a Reduction in Bolsa Família Beneficiaries?
Read also: Bolsa Família Expansion: 550 thousand families will start receiving the benefit in September.
After the implementation of this new 16% restriction for single-person families, many rumors emerged claiming that there would be an extensive reduction in Bolsa Família beneficiaries.
In this context, a video recently gained notoriety online among Bolsa Família beneficiaries. In it, an unidentified woman conveys a crucial message to beneficiaries: an extensive reduction is underway by the federal government, with only 16% of beneficiary families maintaining their payments, resulting in 84% cuts.
Alongside the video, various messages have been circulating on social media. “Only 16% of current beneficiaries will continue receiving payments. Unfortunately, the disadvantaged, illiterate, and humble do not have access to the decree of the bad government.” An alternative version states: “A decree dated August 24, 2023, determines an 84% cut to Bolsa Família beneficiaries. In other words, only 16 out of every 100 will continue receiving payments. Were you aware?”
However, it is vital to clarify that the government is not cutting the Benefit; this incorrect news originated from misinterpretations of the ordinance issued by MDS on August 25.
