Request an increase of the allowance for single-parent families

To access Social Security Direct (SSD), you will need to sign in using one of the following means of authentication:

• Citizen Card
• Digital Mobile Key (CMD)
• your Social Security number and password.

For a single-parent family to be able to receive the increased amount, the family must fall within the first and fourth household income brackets. A single-parent family may be made up of:

• a single adult living with children and/or young people entitled to the family allowance; or
• a pregnant woman living alone or with children and/or young people entitled to the family allowance.

When you apply for the antenatal allowance or the family allowance for children and young people, you will be asked to provide information about the composition of your household.

If your family was already a single-parent family when you applied for the allowance

The household composition is part of the information submitted in the application for the allowance. The Social Security services use this information to identify whether your household is a single-parent household. If it is, they apply the increase to the amount of the allowance that has been granted.

If your family becomes a single-parent family after applying for the antenatal allowance or the family allowance for children and young people

You must change your household and/or income details in one of the following ways:

Online on Social Security Direct (SSD)

To access SSD, you will need to sign in using one of the following means of authentication:

• Citizen Card
• Digital Mobile Key (CMD)
• your Social Security number and password.

Then, in the SSD menu, click on ‘Família’ (‘Family’), followed by ‘Agregado e Relações Familiares’ (‘Household and family relations’).

Choose the option you want (‘Agregado familiar’ (‘Household’) or ‘Relações familiares’ (‘Family relations’)).

If you choose ‘Household’:

• If your household details are up to date, click on ‘Confirmar agregado’ (‘Confirm household’). If you want to change a family relationship, go to the household element record that you want to change, click on ‘Ações’ (‘Actions’) and select ‘Alterar relação familiar’ (‘Change family relationship’).

If you choose ‘Family relationships’:

• In the household element record that you want to change, click on ‘Ações’ (‘Actions’) and select ‘Alterar relação familiar’ (‘Change family relationship’). The name and Social Security Identification Number (NISS) attached to the record will appear. In the ‘Relação familiar’ (‘Family relationship’) field, select the family relationship that the person in the record has to you. Click ‘Guardar alterações’ (‘Save changes’). If you do not want to make any further changes to the household, click on ‘Confirmar agregado’ (‘Confirm household’).

In person

You can declare a change in your household composition and/or income by filling in form GF54?DGSS – Declaration/Change – Household composition and income.

You must hand in the completed form:

• at a Social Security office; or
• at a Citizen Shop or Citizen Spot that provides the service.

By post

You can also send a duly completed form GF54?DGSS – Declaration/Change – Household composition and income by post to the Social Security service in your area of residence or to the competent District Centre (the one that pays you the allowance).

For more information, see the guide Increases in the family allowance for children and young people, the antenatal family allowance and the disability allowance on the Social Security website.

How much is the increase?

* The child guarantee is a supplement to the family allowance for children and young people under the age of 18 who belong to households at risk of extreme poverty (in the 1st income bracket). The granting of the child guarantee is automatic, there is no need for the family to request it.

Amounts of the disability allowance for single-parent families:

For how long is the increased allowance for single-parent families paid?

The increase is paid until the family ceases to be a single-parent family (has more than one adult) or:

• until the child or young person stops receiving the family allowance; or
• until the pregnant woman stops receiving the antenatal allowance.