Entre a universalidade e a restrição da proteção social não contributiva : os desafios de acesso ao benefício de prestação continuada frente ao critério econômico da lei n° 8.742/93

Abstract

This study sought to analyze the limitations of the objective economic criterion provided for in art. 20, § 3, of the Organic Law of Social Assistance (LOAS) and its implications for access to the Continuous Benefit Payment (BPC). The BPC ensures the amount of a minimum wage to elderly people and people with disabilities living in poverty, provided that the conditions imposed by the LOAS are met. However, the per capita income criterion of ¼ of the minimum wage, used to assess the condition of economic insufficiency of BPC recipients, is the subject of controversy between the administrative and judicial spheres, because although it is relativized in the judicial process, the administrative sphere (INSS) remains bound by a single objective criterion. In this sense, the research problem focuses on the obstacles faced by applicants in obtaining the BPC, which include the rigidity of the objective economic requirement provided for in the LOAS and the complexity of the procedures for proving economic insufficiency. The methodology adopted was descriptive and was based on the analysis of legal texts, specialized doctrine, regulatory documents issued by the INSS and the Federal Government, and decisions of the Supreme Federal Court. Thus, it is understood that the criterion of per capita family income, when disconnected from other evidence of poverty, is not adequate for investigating the economic insufficiency of beneficiaries, since it does not consider the particularities of the socioeconomic context of individuals. The study, therefore, highlighted the importance of regulating §11, art. 20, of the LOAS, in order to allow the use of other evidence in the analysis of poverty, as well as pointing to the need for a balance between state efficiency and guaranteeing access to the benefit, in order to make the BPC management system more accessible and less bureaucratic.