Auxílio Brasil also provides for day care vouchers; see values

The government edited this Monday (8) the decree that regulates and brings details of the benefits of Auxílio Brasil, which will come into effect this month. The values ​​take into account the readjustment of less than 20% in relation to Bolsa Família announced by the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has not yet found a solution to bring the average benefit level to R$400.

The new program brings new rules and marks the extinction of Bolsa Família, created in 2003, during the first term of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Brazil Aid starts to be paid this month and will have three basic axes. The Early Childhood Benefit, aimed at families with children up to 3 years old, will have a monthly value of R$130. The Family Composition Benefit, aimed at families with pregnant women or people between 3 and 21 years old, will be R$65 per month. There is also the Benefit for Overcoming Extreme Poverty, paid in an amount that allows the family to get out of the extreme poverty line, stipulated at R$100 of monthly per capita income.

In addition, Auxílio Brasil brings together other accessory programs. Among them are the Sports School Allowance, paid to students who stand out in sports competitions, and the Junior Scientific Initiation Scholarship, for young people in the program with good performance in academic competitions. Both will be worth R$1,000 in a single installment or 12 installments of R$100.

The program also provides for the payment of a kind of day-care voucher to the beneficiary families. Child Citizen Aid will be R$200 for part-time enrollment or R$300 for full-time enrollment. The amount is transferred if the person responsible for the child is working and cannot find a place in a public or partner day care center.

There will also be an incentive consisting in the purchase by the government of food produced by family farmers, in addition to a benefit for people who can prove a formal employment relationship. The value of these grants will be R$ 200 per month.

For families that have an income increase that exceeds the program limit, the benefit will continue to be paid for up to two years. There will be a transition for beneficiaries who have reduced income in the transformation of Bolsa Família into Auxílio Brasil.

Despite the regulations, the program is still surrounded by uncertainties. First, the provisional measure that created the Auxílio Brasil has not yet been approved by Congress.

The text will expire if it is not voted on by deputies and senators by December 7th. If this does not happen, the new program will cease to be valid and Bolsa Família will return to its original format. The government, however, believes the text will be approved.

The main obstacle is the lack of funds to finance the program. The government announced an immediate adjustment of 17.84% in the average value of the benefit, which currently stands at around R$190. The increase is less than the 20% initially promised and leaves the average value at around R$224 per family, well below the R$ 400 planned by the Bolsonaro management.

The Ministry of Citizenship states that it will only be able to reach the amount of R$ 400 if Congress approves the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) which limits spending on court orders — government expenses recognized by the courts and without the possibility of appeal. The text also circumvents fiscal rules by changing the way in which the spending ceiling is calculated, which limits the growth of federal public expenditures to the variation in inflation.

The proposal was approved in the first round by the House last week with a narrow margin of votes. The government is now trying to withhold support for the measure, which has been prosecuted.

The measure opens up more than BRL 90 billion of space in the 2022 accounts, an amount greater than that needed to fund the expansion of the social program. Part of the additional funds should be used to release parliamentary amendments, resources for works and projects indicated by deputies and senators.

If approved in the second round in the Chamber, the PEC will be analyzed by the Senate, where there is also resistance to the text.

THE BRAZIL AID PROGRAM

Destined to

• Families in extreme poverty (monthly income of up to R$100 per person)

• Families in poverty (monthly income between R$100 and R$200 per person) with pregnant women or people aged up to 21

How will the payments be

• First Infancy Benefit (R$130): intended for families with children up to 3 years old (paid per member in this situation).

• Family Composition Benefit (BRL 65): intended for families with pregnant women or people between 3 and 21 years old (paid by member in this situation)

• Benefit for Overcoming Extreme Poverty: intended for families in extreme poverty (with a minimum value per member)

New benefits provided for by Auxílio Brasil

• Sports School Allowance (R$1,000 in a single installment or 12 installments of R$100): for students, members of the beneficiary families, with emphasis on the Brazilian School Games

• Junior Scientific Initiation Scholarship (R$1,000 in a single installment or 12 installments of R$100): for students in the program who stand out in academic and scientific competitions

• Child Citizen Allowance (BRL 200 for part-time enrollment or BRL 300 for full-time): full or partial payment of tuition fees for private day care centers to be paid directly to institutions, preferably single-parent families with 2-year-old children and provided that the person has a paid job and there are no vacancies in the public or private network that has an agreement to meet the family

• Rural Productive Inclusion Aid (BRL 200): 3-year incentive which, in practice, consists of the government purchasing food produced by family farmers for consumption by other families

• Urban Productive Inclusion Aid (BRL 200): for Brazil Aid beneficiaries who can prove formal employment relationship

other points

• Emancipation Rule: families that have an increase in income that exceeds the limit of the Auxílio Brasil program may continue to receive it for up to 2 years (provided that the per capita income remains below two and a half times the poverty limit)

• Families who have reduced payments received in the creation of Auxílio Brasil will have a Transition Compensation Benefit for a few months

• Payroll-deductible credit: beneficiaries of federal social assistance or income transfer programs may take payroll-deductible credit in installments of up to 30% of the benefit amount

• The Food Acquisition Program, created in 2003 to encourage family farming, is renamed Programa Alimenta Brasil

• Bolsa Família legislation will be repealed in three months

Service conditions

• Prenatal

• Vaccinations from the national calendar

• Monitoring of nutritional status

• Minimum school attendance