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Single Social Benefit (PSU)

The new benefit that merges thirteen Portuguese social supports into one, from 31 December 2026.

Earned income goes in net of contributions and tax withheld. Under other income, add pensions, social benefits, rents and investment income, which count in full.

Benefit per month
€440.86
Over 12 months
€5,290.32
Household equivalent adults2
Base amount (268.57 € × equivalent adults)€537.14
Work incentive component€203.72
Income counted€300.00
Global amount before the increase€440.86
Earned income disregarded€203.72
Means-test threshold€537.14

The Prestação Social Única was created by Decreto-Lei 166/2026 of 13 August and only takes effect on 31 December 2026. Until then the Social Integration Income, the social unemployment benefit and the other benefits it replaces continue to apply.

Of the earned income entered, €203.72 cuts nothing off the benefit and only €96.28 reduces it. That is the article 28 work incentive component: the first €107.43, which is 20 % of the IAS, is fully disregarded and above that half counts. A euro of pension or rent cuts a full euro.

Two further limits do not depend on income: neither the household's movable assets nor its registrable movable property may exceed €32,227.80, that is 60 times the IAS (article 8(1)(c) and (d)). Those values are not asked for here.

Educational estimate from the figures you enter. It does not apply the rules that impute income to assets (articles 13, 14 and 17), the general and specific access conditions, the individual insertion plan, or the conversion of benefits you already receive (article 57). Figures use the 2026 IAS.

This is not financial advice. Entitlement and the amount are decided by Social Security.

Thirteen benefits become one, and the arithmetic changes shape

Law 36/2026 of 27 July authorised the Government to create the single social benefit and listed in article 1(2) exactly what it absorbs: the Social Integration Income (RSI), six social parental benefits (the initial social parental benefit, the one for clinical risk during pregnancy, the one for termination of pregnancy, the one for specific risks, the adoption one and the one for travel to a hospital outside the pregnant woman’s island of residence), the social old-age pension, the social pension of the special invalidity protection scheme, the extraordinary solidarity supplement, the widowhood pension, the orphan’s pension and the social unemployment benefit. That is thirteen. Decreto-Lei 166/2026 of 13 August implemented that authorisation and is where the rules live. Note what stays out: only NON-CONTRIBUTORY benefits are absorbed, the ones paid on a means test rather than earned by contributions. Contributory unemployment benefit, contributory parental benefit, the invalidity pension and the survivor’s pension of the general scheme are untouched. The solidarity supplement for the elderly and the dependency supplement also survive: article 57(5) states expressly that those who transfer to the PSU keep them.

The base amount: the reference value times equivalent adults

Article 24(1) sets the formula in one line: the base amount of the PSU equals the benefit’s reference value (VRP) multiplied by the number of equivalent adults (AE) in the household. The reference value comes from article 7 and corresponds to 50 % of the social support index (IAS), that is 268.57 € with the 2026 IAS, subject to update by ministerial order. The equivalent adults come from the weighting in paragraph 2: 1 for the applicant, 0.7 per other adult and 0.5 per minor. This is not a headcount, and the difference is large: a couple with two minor children is not worth 4 but 1 + 0.7 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 2.7, giving a base amount of 725.14 €. It is the same equivalence scale the Social Integration Income already used, so this is the part of the scheme that does not change. Who counts as household is in article 5: the spouse or de facto partner, adult relatives and in-laws in the direct and collateral line up to the third degree, minor relatives and in-laws, and adopted children, wards and children placed by judicial decision, provided they live in a common economy.

The big change: 107.43 € of pay no longer cuts the benefit

This is the most consequential difference from everything the PSU replaces, and it is easy to miss. Article 25(1) states that the monthly global amount of the PSU equals the difference between the sum of the base amount and the work incentive component (CIT), where applicable, and the total income of the applicant and their household. So the benefit is differential and every euro of income subtracts. But article 28(2) requires a work incentive component to be added back, equal to the sum of two parts: the whole of earned income up to 20 % of the IAS, plus 50 % of the part exceeding that limit. Because the same income was already subtracting inside R, the net effect is a disregard: the first 20 % of the IAS of EARNED income, that is 107.43 € in 2026, cuts nothing at all, and above that only half counts. Compare the two sides for the same family: 307.43 € of net pay cuts 100 € off the benefit, while 307.43 € of pension or rent cuts the full 307.43 €. Note that earned income enters NET: article 28(3) requires mandatory social security contributions to be deducted and article 11(2) adds income tax withheld. One reading caveat: article 28 is headed "regime of the transitional work incentive component", yet nowhere does the decree-law fix a date on which that component ends.

The access threshold is measured against the base amount, which creates a cliff

Article 8(1)(b) requires, for entitlement to arise, that the income of the applicant and their household be lower than the value of the PSU calculated under article 24(1). Article 24(1) is the BASE amount, not the global amount of article 25. So the access threshold is the bare base amount, without the work incentive component. The consequence is a cliff. For a single person the threshold is 268.57 €: with 268.56 € of net pay the benefit is still around 192 €, and with 268.58 € it is ZERO. That is striking, because the decree-law’s own preamble says it wants to eliminate disincentives to work, in particular situations where rising income leads to an abrupt loss of support and perpetuates poverty traps. The tension inside the diploma is worth recording: article 3 characterises the contingency as income lower than the value of the PSU calculated under articles 24 AND 25, referring to both, which would support a higher threshold. This calculator follows the literal reading of article 8, because that is the operative access condition, and shows the threshold separately so you can see it. The implementing rules foreseen in articles 32 and 59 may clarify the point. There are also two asset limits that do not depend on income at all: paragraphs (c) and (d) of the same provision require that neither movable assets nor registrable movable property exceed 60 times the IAS, that is 32,227.80 € each.

The two increases, and the unemployment one tops up to 429.70 €

Article 25(2) provides that an increase for parenthood or an increase for unemployment is added to the global amount where applicable, and articles 26(3) and 27(7) make clear the two are not cumulative with each other. The PARENTHOOD increase, in article 26, is for someone covered by the general scheme who has no right to parental benefit because they did not meet the qualifying period, and is worth, in the words of paragraph 2, the difference between 80 % of the IAS and the result of applying the article 24(2) weighting of the increase’s beneficiary to the benefit’s reference value. In plain terms: 429.70 € minus the beneficiary’s weight times 268.57 €. If the beneficiary is the applicant the weight is 1 and the increase is 161.13 €; if it is another adult in the household the weight is 0.7 and it rises to 241.70 €. The UNEMPLOYMENT increase, in article 27, is for someone involuntarily unemployed with no right to unemployment benefit, either because they did not meet the qualifying period or because they exhausted it, and equals the difference between 80 % of the IAS and the global amount of the PSU. Do the addition and you see what it actually does: the payment becomes exactly 80 % of the IAS, that is 429.70 €, whatever the starting point, and paragraph 2 removes it once the global amount already reaches that value. It is per household, not per person, and paragraph 4 limits it to the first six months of the PSU. Where no unemployment benefit was paid before, paragraph 3 also requires 120 days of employed work in the preceding 12 months.

The ceiling, the floor and what happens to existing claimants

There is a ceiling and a floor. The ceiling, in article 25(3): the global amount plus any increase cannot exceed the maximum for the non-contributory base supports granted to the household, excluding family, disability and dependency supplements of the family protection subsystem, and that maximum corresponds to six times the IAS, that is 3,222.78 € in 2026. Read its scope carefully: the ceiling covers the household’s non-contributory base supports as a whole and not only this benefit, so other supports consume the same headroom. The floor, in paragraph 5: where the monthly global amount of the PSU is below 10 € the benefit is not granted. Note that paragraph 5 refers to the global amount, while paragraphs 2 and 3 say expressly "plus any applicable increase", so this simulator tests the 10 € before the increase, which is also the conservative reading. The benefit is granted for a renewable 12-month period (article 30(1)), is exempt from income tax but aggregated for the purposes of article 22(4) of the Personal Income Tax Code (article 29), and no social security contribution is due on it. As for people already receiving one of the replaced benefits, article 57 converts them into the PSU of the institution’s own motion with a guarantee of the amount currently received, and for the social old-age pension and the social invalidity pension paragraph 6 requires the PSU to be paid in 14 annual instalments. Nobody has to apply for the conversion and nobody loses value through it.

Worked example

Take a single mother with two minor children and 300 € of net pay a month. The weighting is 1 for her plus 0.5 for each child, that is 2 equivalent adults, so the base amount is 2 × 268.57 € = 537.14 €. The work incentive component is 107.43 € for the first part plus half of the remaining 192.57 €, that is 203.72 €. The article 25 calculation gives 537.14 € + 203.72 € − 300 € = 440.86 € a month, or 5,290.32 € a year. Her income (300 €) is below the access threshold (537.14 €), so the means test is met. Change only the nature of the income and see the difference: if those 300 € were a pension rather than pay, there would be no work incentive component and the benefit would be 237.14 € a month, that is 203.72 € lower. If instead she were unemployed with no right to unemployment benefit, the article 27 increase would top the payment up to 429.70 € for the first six months.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Portugal’s single social benefit pay?
It depends on two things: who lives with you and how much the household receives. The starting point is 268.57 € per equivalent adult, counting 1 for the applicant, 0.7 per other adult and 0.5 per minor. Household income is then subtracted from that base amount, but earned income is discounted with an incentive: the first 107.43 € cuts nothing and above that only half counts. A single mother with two children and 300 € of net pay receives about 440.86 € a month. This simulator does that calculation from the figures you enter.
When does the single social benefit start?
Decreto-Lei 166/2026 was published on 13 August 2026 and article 63 states that it enters into force on the first working day after publication and takes effect on 31 December 2026. So the diploma is already in force, but the benefit can only be claimed and paid from 31 December 2026. Until then the Social Integration Income, the social unemployment benefit, the social old-age pension and the other benefits the PSU replaces continue under their own rules. The figures in this simulator use the 2026 IAS (537.13 €); once the 2027 IAS is published every number changes with it.
Which benefits does the PSU replace?
Thirteen, all on the non-contributory side. Article 1(2) of Law 36/2026 names them: the Social Integration Income; six social parental benefits (initial parental, clinical risk in pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, specific risks, adoption, and travel to a hospital outside the island of residence); the social old-age pension; the social pension of the special invalidity protection scheme; the extraordinary solidarity supplement; the widowhood pension; the orphan’s pension; and the social unemployment benefit. Contributory benefits, the ones earned through contributions, are untouched: unemployment benefit, parental benefit, the invalidity pension and the survivor’s pension of the general scheme all remain. The solidarity supplement for the elderly and the dependency supplement also continue, under article 57(5).
If I start working, do I lose the benefit?
Not immediately, and that is the novelty of the scheme. The work incentive component in article 28 means the first 107.43 € of earned income a month cuts nothing off the benefit, and above that only half counts. Net pay of 307.43 € reduces the benefit by 100 €, not by 307.43 €. There is, however, an access limit that still bites: article 8(1)(b) requires household income to be lower than the base amount, and once it goes above that there is no entitlement at all, even where the article 25 calculation would still produce a positive figure. For a single person that threshold is 268.57 € a month.
Who qualifies for the single social benefit?
The general conditions are in article 8: residing in Portugal, having income below the benefit’s base amount, having no movable assets and no registrable movable property above 60 times the IAS (32,227.80 € each in 2026), at least a year having passed since any termination of an employment contract on your own initiative without just cause (unless you have been recognised as a victim of domestic violence), not being in pre-trial detention or serving a prison sentence, and authorising access to tax and banking information. The minimum age is 18 (article 4). There are also specific conditions in article 18, tied to registration with the employment centre and availability for social solidarity activities, from which article 20 exempts people on temporary incapacity, holders of an absolute invalidity pension, people with 80 % or more incapacity, those in education within the child-benefit age and education limits, and main informal carers.
What if I already receive the Social Integration Income?
You do not need to do anything and you do not lose value. Article 57(1) provides that holders of the Social Integration Income are granted the PSU of the institution’s own motion, with a guarantee of the RSI amount they are receiving, for the current award period. Equivalent rules apply to the social old-age pension and the extraordinary solidarity supplement (paragraph 2), to widowhood and orphan’s pensions where the holders live in the same household (paragraph 3) and to the social invalidity pension (paragraph 4). Anyone receiving the dependency supplement or the solidarity supplement for the elderly keeps them (paragraph 5). And anyone currently receiving a social parental or social unemployment benefit keeps the right to it until the end of the award period (article 61(2)).
Is the benefit taxed, or subject to social security contributions?
It is not taxed. Article 29(1) is express: the PSU, calculated under the decree-law, is exempt from personal income tax. There is a detail in paragraph 2: despite the exemption, the benefit is aggregated for the purposes of article 22(4) of the Personal Income Tax Code, meaning it counts towards determining the rate applied to the household’s other income without being taxed itself. No social security contribution is due on the benefit either, so the figure in this simulator is what reaches the bank account.
Are the figures in this simulator exact?
The formula, the equivalence scale, the 50 % of the IAS for the reference value, the 20 % and 50 % of the work incentive component, the 80 % of the increases, the ceiling of six times the IAS and the 10 € floor are those of Decreto-Lei 166/2026. The indexed value is the 2026 one: an IAS of 537.13 €. But there are three reasons the result is an estimate rather than a decision. First, some income is not what you receive but what the law imputes: article 13 imputes to deposits and financial assets above 15 times the IAS a minimum return at the 12-month Euribor plus one percentage point, with a floor of 3 % a year, and article 14 imputes 5 % of the value of property that yields no rent. Second, access depends on conditions no calculator verifies. Third, the scheme only takes effect on 31 December 2026 and the implementing rules of articles 32 and 59 have not yet been published. This is an educational estimate and does not replace Social Security.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-19