State maternity allowance

Maternity allowance for atypical and non-continuous work, also known as State maternity allowance, is a social security benefit payable by the State that is granted and paid directly by INPS (Article 75 of Legislative Decree of 26th March 2001, n. 151).

State maternity allowance can be claimed by:

• mothers and adoptive mothers;
• fathers and adoptive fathers;
• pre-adoptive foster parents;
• unmarried adopters;
• the spouse of the adoptive mother or pre-adoptive foster carer;
• foster parents (not pre-adoptive) in the case of non-recognition by both parents.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

The sum of the allowance is re-evaluated every year in accordance with changes to the ISTAT index for consumer prices for families of workers and dependent workers. Said sum is indicated in the circular on average conventional wages published annually by INPS on its website.

REQUIREMENTS

The general eligibility requirements needed to access a State maternity allowance are to be a resident of Italy and to have Italian citizenship or citizenship of another EU country. Non-EU citizens are required to have an EC long-term residence permit.

The following requirements apply to the mother:

• if she is in work, she must have paid at least 3 months of maternity contributions during the period between 18 and nine months prior to the birth. In the case of national adoption or pre-adoptive foster care this time frame refers to the period before the child enters the family and for international adoption, to the period before the child arrived in Italy;
• if she has worked for at least three months and lost the right to social security or welfare benefits, the period of time between the date of loss of the right and the date of the child’s birth or the child's entry into the family, in the case of adoption or foster care, must neither exceed the period of time that the mother received benefits nor nine months;
• if she terminated her employment relationship during the pregnancy, even if voluntarily, she must be able to demonstrate three months of contribution payments paid during the period between 18 and nine months prior to the birth of the child.

The following requirements apply to the father:

• if the mother abandons the child or if the father has exclusive custody of the child, at the time of abandonment or granting of exclusive custody the father must meet the contribution requirements provided for the mother;
• if he is a pre-adoptive foster parent, in the event of separation of the spouses during the pre-adoptive foster care process he must meet the contribution requirements provided for the mother at the time he enters into a foster care agreement;
• if he is an adoptive father, for adoption that occurred without foster care during the separation of the spouses, he must meet the contribution requirements provided for the mother at the time he entered into adoption;
• if he is an unmarried adoptive father, for adoption taken on by him alone, he must meet the contribution requirements provided for the mother at the time he entered into adoption;
• if he recognises the new born or is the spouse of the adoptive or pre-adoptive foster mother, in the event of death of the biological, adoptive or foster mother , the following requirements must be met at the time of claim: the father or spouse of the deceased must have regular residency in Italy, have the child registered within the family unit, have parental authority over the child, must not assign the child to third parties. In addition, the deceased must not have already benefited from the allowance. 

In the latter case, the requirements for three months of contribution payments between the previous 18 and nine months and the loss of entitlement to social security or welfare benefits for no more than nine months are not required, as the right to the allowance derives from the deceased mother or woman.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must be submitted within six months of the birth of the child or of the entry of the child into the family in the case of adoption or foster care. For international adoption it must also be submitted within 6 months of the date on which the child arrived in Italy.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

The claim for State maternity allowance must be submitted electronically to the relevant INPS office, using one of the following channels:

• Dedicated on-line service;
• phoning the contact centre on +39 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +39 06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• Electronic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof.