Social Security Support: Government wants to "combat fraud" and provides guarantee

The government intends to strengthen the exchange of data between Social Security and the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) on social benefit recipients, to ensure they are allocated fairly and to combat fraud . The announcement was made by Susana Filipa Lima, Secretary of State for Social Security, on Tuesday, who also provided a guarantee: when the government learned of social benefit cuts, it issued instructions to "suspend resource assessments" so that "no more citizens are harmed ."

Cross-referencing data to "fight fraud"

When questioned in Parliament about the need for data interconnection between the two services, the Secretary of State stated that this is an objective of the executive.

"I do not hide the fact that we have the ambition to interconnect data between Social Security and the Tax Authority , not to penalize the granting of access [to social support], but to ensure that they are granted to those who need them ," he responded.

"I don't hide the fact that we have the ambition to interconnect data between Social Security and the Tax Authority, not to penalize the granting of access [to social support], but to ensure that it is granted to those who need it," he responded.

"The interconnection of data and the allocation of social benefits based on more complete information about beneficiaries will allow us to more fairly allocate the social support provided for by law and will also help combat fraud, which is one of our concerns," said Filipa Lima.

The minister insisted that the objective is not to cut support, but rather to detect abusive cases.

"This doesn't mean, of course, that we're going to use data interconnection to penalize those who shouldn't be penalized. We're not using it at all, nor do we plan to use it to make any kind of cuts," he stressed.

"The more information we have, the fairer and more efficient the process of allocating social benefits will be, and in particular, the issue of detecting abuse and combating fraud," he added.

Support cuts? The government issued instructions to "suspend reassessments"

Still in Parliament , the Secretary of State for Social Security admitted that in August "complaints arose" from "several citizens and associations, according to which the granting of the Informal Caregiver Support Allowance was penalizing the family unit in some social benefits and, in particular, the family allowance".

In response to the MPs, the Secretary of State for Social Security said that when the Executive was confronted with this situation, it gave "guidance to suspend the reassessments of resource conditions so that no more citizens are harmed than those who already were ."

The minister also indicated that Social Security did not make a "prior communication" about this situation, but signaled that it is making "efforts" to adopt a more proactive stance and prevent "people from being negatively surprised when situations like these or similar occur."

The informal caregiver support allowance aims to help those who care for dependents, but Social Security has started to consider it income, "which can reduce social support and increase the tax burden," according to DECO PROTeste.

News to the Minute | 10:33 - 09/16/2025

According to the survey carried out by the Executive, "in August of this year", there were around 1,600 beneficiaries who had their family allowances recalculated".

"The granting of family allowance, as well as other social benefits, including the caregiver support allowance itself, is subject to verification of the means test, which is regulated by a specific law, Decree-Law No. 70/2010. For this purpose, among others, [as] family income are considered to be income from work, capital, pensions and also other social benefits", he explained.

However, according to the Secretary of State, "what happens is that, when included in the solidarity subsystem, the informal caregiver support allowance is not covered" by the exceptions provided for in the law that exclude support from the income universe and, therefore, the allowance "is counted as income".

Filipa Lima also said that the Government is committed to resolving the problem through legislative changes in the "shortest possible time."

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