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President Lula signed on April 13 the Decree No. 12,926/2026, which requires federal outsourcing contracts to include childcare reimbursement for workers with children up to five years and eleven months old. The amount is up to R$ 526.64 per dependent, per month. The normative instructions regulating the benefit were published in the Official Gazette of the Union on April 14 and are already in effect.
This amount is identical to what federal public servants already receive. For the first time, the outsourced cleaner, security guard, and receptionist working in the same public building will have the same childcare assistance as the career analyst sitting on the upper floor.
Who is entitled and how does the payment work?
The reimbursement applies to all outsourced workers linked to exclusive labor contracts with the federal public administration. In practice, this includes cleaning professionals, security, reception, administrative support, building maintenance, catering, and other operational functions performed within government agencies.
The benefit is available to those who have custody of a child, stepchild, or child under guardianship under six years of age. The Ministry of Management estimates that around 14,000 children will be covered.
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The mother has priority in receiving the payment. If both legal guardians are federal outsourced workers, the payment will be directed to the woman to avoid duplication. When the actual expense with childcare or caregiver is less than R$ 526.64, the reimbursement will be proportional to the documented amount.
The request is made to the outsourcing company, which gathers the documentation and forwards it to the contracting public agency. The oversight occurs through sampling, requiring proof such as invoices from childcare centers, receipts from caregivers, or contracts for early childhood education services.
For contracts already in effect, there is an adaptation period between May and December 2026. New contracts signed from now on must already include the reimbursement in the cost sheet.
Why is this benefit more important than it seems?
The isolated number of R$ 526.64 may seem insufficient when compared to the average cost of a private daycare in Brazil, which ranges from R$ 800 to R$ 2,500 depending on the city and region. But the significance of this measure goes beyond the deposited amount.
Outsourced workers are among the professionals with the lowest remuneration within the federal structure. Many receive salaries close to the minimum wage and did not have access to any type of childcare assistance. The absence of this support forces a choice that primarily affects women: either pay for daycare with a disproportionate slice of their salary or leave their job to care for their children at home.
Brazil has not yet universalized the offer of public daycare centers. Recent data indicate that less than 40% of children aged zero to three have access to spots in early childhood education institutions. In lower-income families, this percentage is even lower. The reimbursement does not replace a public spot but creates a financial alternative for those who cannot secure one.
The Minister of Management, Esther Dweck, acknowledged this gap when commenting on the measure. According to her, childcare is a necessary condition for women and caregivers in general to be able to perform their roles effectively. While the public network does not meet the demand, the reimbursement serves as a compensatory mechanism.
What else changed for outsourced workers in the same decree?
The reduction of the weekly work hours from 44 to 40, without a salary cut, was officially announced along with the daycare reimbursement. The measure immediately benefits over 40,000 workers and could reach up to 60,000 by 2026, according to the Ministry of Management.
This is the third phase of a process that began in 2024. In the previous two stages, about 19,000 professionals from 12 categories had already benefited. Now, the reduction extends to all outsourced service positions with exclusive dedication, except for those operating on a shift basis (such as 12 on 36 hours or 24 on 72 hours).
Other rights implemented since 2024 include predictability in vacations, with a mandatory notice of at least 60 days in advance, and the possibility of compensating work hours during periods of lower demand, such as year-end breaks.
Minister Guilherme Boulos, from the General Secretariat of the Presidency, associated the measures with the debate on ending the 6×1 shift, which the government intends to send to Congress in the form of a bill. According to him, the decision demonstrates that the Executive is applying the model it advocates for the rest of the labor market within its own structure.
What does this decree signal for the private sector?
The government used a specific expression when justifying the measure: “purchasing power of the State.” The logic is that by including labor requirements in public contracts, the federal administration creates a standard that ultimately influences the private market, especially in sectors such as cleaning, security, and facilities that provide services to both the government and companies.
When a security company needs to offer daycare reimbursement and a 40-hour workweek to maintain federal contracts, it tends to extend these benefits to its entire operation because maintaining two parallel structures of labor rights generates administrative costs and legal risks.
This strategy is not new. Governments of various countries use social clauses in public contracts to raise standards in the private sector without needing to change labor legislation. The difference is that, in the Brazilian case, the measure occurs at a specific political moment: the government is simultaneously pressuring Congress to approve the reduction of working hours for all formally employed workers.
If the private market absorbs part of these changes through contractual pressure even before a new law is approved, the argument that the economy cannot support a reduction in working hours loses strength. And that may be the intention. What do you think about this?
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