The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger (MDS) announced this week that it will allocate BRL 2.2 billion to states and municipalities and an additional BRL 200 million to the Single Registry Service Strengthening Program in SUAS (Procad-SUAS).
The Cadastro Único is the identification tool for low-income Brazilian families, conducted in the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS). By enrolling in Cad-Único, it is possible to access programs such as the Social Electricity Tariff, Minha Casa, Minha Vida, Benefit of Continuous Provision (BPC), among others.
Among the actions announced by the Lula government and formalized in a resolution published in the Official Gazette this Thursday (16), is the cadastral review based on family composition and income. Between March and December, 5 million beneficiaries who claim to be unipersonal (registrations of people who said they live alone) will have their data revised.
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According to a survey by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), the MDS will also verify 2.5 million beneficiaries who show signs of income irregularities and do not meet the program’s criteria.
“The objective of this initiative is to open the door and join hands with the poorest, include those who are outside and meet the criteria and exclude those who are receiving irregularly. Those who really need the income transfer will not be disconnected”, said, in a note, Wellington Dias, Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger.
The minister said that among those irregular in the transfer of income, several may be able to integrate other social policies: “These people will be mapped and interviewed. We will understand the context of each case and make the appropriate referrals, as we know that many people need and will be embraced by the various other social programs of the Federal Government”.
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Family composition and sole proprietorships
The growth of single-person registrations is one of the points of attention for the Ministry. The design of Auxílio Brasil, the income transfer program of the previous government, does not consider family composition as a criterion for transferring the benefit. The number of families covered by the program increased from 14 million to 22 million, between December 2020 and December 2022.
Still according to the MDS diagnosis, in 2021 the average number of families with more than one person decreased, while the registrations of people who claim to live alone increased significantly: between December 2019 and December 2022, the number of single person registrations of beneficiaries income transfer grew 224%.
active search
Another stage of the MDS task force will be the active search, when technicians from the municipalities go to people in social vulnerability. The government, with support from the states and municipalities, will train more than 12 thousand agents in the 12 thousand service units of the Cadastro Único in the social assistance network throughout Brazil.
“It is important to clarify that no one needs to go to the CRAS (Social Assistance Reference Center) or to the city hall. We will go to the people. We are going to invest in preparing visitors and interviewers, who will communicate directly with applicants”, said Wellington Dias.
“Right now, we are investing around R$200 million to hire and train these registrars. We will look for these people, we will reach out to homeless people, in indigenous communities… In other words, we will go where no one has yet gone with the objective of bringing into the Single Registry those who have the right to enter the income transfer program or be part of other policies in the social area”, he added.
Integration with CNIS
Another novelty announced by the federal government will be the integration of the Cadastro Único and the National Registry of Social Information (CNIS), a base that concentrates information on social security benefits and job income.
The integration will be monthly and will cross-reference data of beneficiaries of income transfer actions and will also optimize services at CRAS, since the citizen will not need to go to the units to provide information that the Government already has .
The next stage of this work will be to make the integration online, in a systemic way, from 2024. The active search, on the other hand, will continue to be carried out by the municipalities, with full support from the Federal Government and the states.
With information from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger.
Editing: Vivian Virissimo
