TCU points out failures in Bolsa Familia and recommends clear definition of “tolerable errors”

The Federal Court of Audit (TCU) has identified failures in the management of the Bolsa Familia program and recommended to the federal government among several points, which establishes the “risk appetite”, which is the level of tolerable error between including improper families or excluding eligible families.

Among the findings, the TCU pointed out that the absence of clear parameters for the acceptable error level compromises the prioritization of controls and can result in both undue exclusion of vulnerable and excessive tolerance to fraud and irregular payments.

The inspection meets the formulation steps of the Budgetary Guidelines Bill (PLDO), serving the National Congress to assess the execution and compliance with goals of federal programs. The audit also identified weaknesses in decentralized execution. Municipalities reported lack of personnel, high turnover of social interviewers and limited training offer, associated with restricted technical support from the federal government.

More than 90% of municipalities did not reach the minimum rate of home checks between 2019 and 2023, and various and non -standardized methods of registration conference were observed, compromising data quality and focusing benefits.

Another highlighted point was the impact of the complementary benefit, which guarantees minimum value of R $ 600 per family regardless of the number of members. According to TCU, this design reduces efficiency and generates distortions: the program could save up to 9.1% of the budget or expand poverty reduction with payments proportional to family size by 7.2%.