INSS 25% supplement cut for those with a survivor’s pension

Updated on November 7, 2026.

Anyone who receives a permanent disability retirement pension with the 25% supplement and also receives a survivor’s pension may be getting less than the law guarantees. Since Brazil’s 2019 Social Security Reform, the INSS applies the benefit accumulation reducer to these cases and, in the calculation, cuts part of the supplement that exists to pay for a caregiver.

The cut usually goes unnoticed. The amount goes straight into the account, the family cannot check the formula and the INSS statement does not explain where the difference came from. There are good arguments to challenge this reduction in court, and the differences for the last five years can be claimed.

What the 25% supplement is

Article 45 of Law 8.213/1991 guarantees a 25% increase in the permanent disability retirement pension (formerly called disability retirement) when the retiree needs the permanent assistance of another person. It is the benefit many people know as the caregiver allowance or severe disability supplement.

The Social Security Regulation (Annex I of Decree 3.048/1999) gives examples of who is entitled: total blindness, paralysis of both arms or both legs, illness requiring continuous bed rest, mental impairment with serious disruption of organic and social life, and permanent inability to perform activities of daily living. The list is a reference. What the law ultimately requires is dependence on a caregiver.

The law itself shows that the supplement has its own rules. It is paid even if the pension is already at the ceiling, follows the benefit’s adjustments and ends with the retiree’s death, without passing on to the survivor’s pension.

Where the cut is: the accumulation reducer

Constitutional Amendment 103/2019, the Social Security Reform, created in article 24 a rule for people who receive both a survivor’s pension and a retirement pension. The person receives the more favorable benefit in full and only part of the other, calculated in minimum wage brackets:

Up to 1 minimum wage: paid in full.
The portion above 1 and up to 2 minimum wages: 60% is paid.
From 2 to 3 minimum wages: 40%.
From 3 to 4 minimum wages: 20%.
Above 4 minimum wages: 10%.

The problem arises when the disability pension is the smaller benefit. The INSS adds the 25% supplement to the pension amount and applies the reducer to the total. Because the supplement pushes the income into the next bracket, it is exactly the supplement that gets cut.

An example with 2026 figures

With the minimum wage at BRL 1,621.00, a disability pension of one minimum wage has a supplement of BRL 405.25, bringing the benefit to BRL 2,026.25. If the retiree also receives a larger survivor’s pension, the retirement pension becomes the reduced benefit. The first minimum wage stays intact, and what exceeds it, which is the entire supplement, is cut by 40%.

The retiree receives BRL 243.15 as a supplement, when the law provides for BRL 405.25. That is BRL 162.10 less per month, around BRL 2,100 per year including the 13th payment. Over five years, the total can exceed BRL 9,000 in nominal terms, without adjustment or interest. This figure is an estimate based on each year’s minimum wage; the actual amount depends on each person’s benefit and on when the cut began.

For larger benefits, the supplement falls into higher reduction brackets, and the cut can reach 80% or 90% of its value.

Why the cut can be challenged

The argument against the reduction rests on three points.

The supplement is there to pay the caregiver. Article 24 of the Amendment was designed to limit the combination of two incomes that replace wages, such as a survivor’s pension and a retirement pension. The 25% supplement has a different function: to pay for the help the retiree needs to live. So much so that the law keeps it above the ceiling and does not let it pass on to the survivor’s pension.

The Amendment does not mention the supplement. Article 24 refers to the accumulation of benefits, and the supplement is an addition within one benefit. Rules that restrict social security rights must be read strictly, without extending the cut to what the Constitution did not provide for.

The cut hits those who depend on it most. The reduction falls on the very portion that the INSS itself, in a medical examination, recognized as essential to pay for another person’s assistance.

There is also an independent path. Paragraph 4 of article 24 says the restrictions do not apply when the right to the benefits was acquired before November 13, 2019, when the Amendment took effect. If the survivor’s pension and the disability predate the Reform, even if the retirement pension was granted later, it can be argued that no reducer should apply at all.

It is important to be clear about where this debate stands. Courts have applied the reducer to accumulations after the Reform, and its application to the 25% supplement has no settled position yet from the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) or the National Uniformization Panel. As of this update, we have found no higher court precedent on this specific point. That is why each case needs to be examined with the documents.

Another common error: a supplement that starts late

Many people only request the supplement years after retiring, when the family finds out it exists. The INSS then pays from the date of the request, even if the retiree already depended on a caregiver before.

The National Uniformization Panel of the Federal Small Claims Courts addressed this in Theme 275. When the supplement is granted in court, it must start on the retirement start date, even without a specific request, if the need for permanent help already existed then. If it did not, the following dates are, in order, the INSS review examination that stopped recognizing the supplement, the administrative request and, lastly, the service of process in the lawsuit.

In practice, old medical reports, hospital records and guardianship proceedings can prove that the dependence began earlier and secure months or years of back payments.

Who may have been affected

Permanent disability retirees who receive the 25% supplement and also a survivor’s pension.
Families of elderly people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, stroke sequelae or illnesses that leave the person bedridden, who are usually the ones who most need the supplement.
Those who requested the supplement only after retiring, but already needed a caregiver before.
Those whose disability was recognized before November 2019, even if the retirement pension was granted later.

We found no official data on how many people are in this situation. But the combination is common among widowed elderly people, and the cut is made by the INSS calculation system itself, which suggests it is not an isolated error.

How to check

In the Meu INSS app or website, download the retirement award letter and the benefit payment statement. The statement comes in 12-month blocks, so you may need to generate more than one. Check two things: whether the supplement paid equals 25% of the pension amount and whether any deduction for accumulation with the survivor’s pension appears.

If the supplement is below 25%, or if it began after the date the person started needing help, it is worth an analysis. Also gather the medical reports showing since when the dependence has existed.

Deadline: back payments of up to five years

Benefit differences expire after five years, month by month, under article 103 of Law 8.213/1991. Each month without a lawsuit is a month that may be lost. Time during which an administrative request sat idle at the INSS may suspend the count, which also needs to be checked in each case.

Frequently asked questions

Is every retiree who needs a caregiver entitled to the 25%?

No. In 2021, the STF decided in General Repercussion Theme 1.095 (RE 1.221.446) that the supplement cannot be extended to other types of retirement without a law providing for it. Today it applies to the permanent disability retirement pension.

Does the supplement pass on to the survivor’s pension when the retiree dies?

No. The law says the supplement ends with the retiree’s death and is not incorporated into the survivor’s pension.

Do people who do not receive a survivor’s pension also suffer this cut?

The article 24 reducer only applies when benefits are accumulated. Those who receive only the retirement pension with the supplement do not have this deduction, but may be entitled to back payments if the supplement started later than it should have.

Do I need to file a new request with the INSS before going to court?

As a rule, no. In General Repercussion Theme 350, the STF allowed requests to review a benefit already granted to go directly to the courts, unless they depend on facts the INSS does not yet know. Since the reducer is applied by the INSS system itself, a new administrative request tends to have the same result.

Where is the lawsuit filed?

Against the INSS, the lawsuit is filed in the Federal Courts. When the amount does not exceed 60 minimum wages, it goes to the Federal Small Claims Court, with no court fees at first instance. Elderly people and those with serious illnesses have priority.

Each case depends on the type of benefit, the dates and the medical records. If you would like an individual analysis, send your case through our social security intake page or talk to the team on WhatsApp (62) 98184-3257 or (61) 99833-1103. See also our work in social security law.

Official sources

By Sidnei Pedro Dias, lawyer, OAB/GO 48.603, OAB/DF 68.207 and OAB/SP 501.693.

INSS 25% supplement: a retiree who also receives a survivor’s pension may be getting less