INPS

The NASpI is aimed at workers who have involuntarily lost their employment, including:

• apprentices;
• working members of co-operatives who have an employment contract with said co-operative;
• artistic staff with employment contracts;
• fixed-term civil servants working in public administration.

The following are not entitled to the allowance:

• permanent civil servants working in public administration;
• permanent and fixed-term agricultural workers;
• non-EU workers with residence permits for seasonal work, for which the specific regulations remain in effect;
• workers who have met the requirements for old age retirement or early retirement;
• workers entitled to ordinary invalidity allowance, if not opting for the NASpI.

START DATE AND DURATION

The NASpI unemployment allowance can be received:

• from the eighth day following the date of termination of employment if the application is submitted within the eighth day; from the day following the application submission, if claimed after the eighth day following the termination but within the terms of the law;
• from the eighth day following the end of the period of maternity leave, illness, injury at work/occupational disease or notice period, if the application is submitted within the eighth day; from the day following the submission of the application, if claimed after the eighth day but within the terms of the law;
• from the thirty-eighth day following a lawful dismissal, if the application is submitted within said thirty-eight-day period; from the day following submission of the application, if claimed after the thirty-eighth day following the dismissal but within the terms of the law.

Any re-employment during the eight days following the termination does not result in the allowance being suspended and a new NASpI claim must be submitted in the event of involuntary termination of the aforementioned re-employment (INPS circular, 12th May 2015, n.94).

The NASpI is paid monthly for a period equal to half the number of weeks during which contributions were paid throughout the last four years. To calculate this duration, the contribution periods that have already resulted in the provision of unemployment benefits are not counted. Similarly, contributions that culminated in benefits received in an advance lump sum payment are not taken into account.

If no benefits have accumulated, the contribution periods relating to the employment contract(s) following the last unemployment benefit are still useful to determine the duration of a new NASpI.

The periods for which NASpI can be received are covered by imputed contributions (INPS circular, 12th May 2015, n.94).

Those intending to start self-employment or sole-proprietorship or who aim to purchase co-operative share capital in which the mutual relationship intends to provide employment to the member, can claim an advance lump sum payment of the NASpI.

What am I entitled to?

The sum of the allowance is equal to 75% of the average monthly salary that was taxable for social security purposes throughout the last four years. Said salary must be lower than a reference amount that is established by law and reassessed annually based on changes to the ISTAT index. The reference amount is announced each year by the INPS via a circular published on the site (€1,195 for 2017, €1,208.15 for 2018 and €1,221.44 for 2019).

However, if the average salary is higher than the aforementioned annual reference amount (€1,221.44 for 2019), the total sum of the allowance is equal to 75% of the annual reference amount established by law (€1,221.44 for 2019) added to 25% of the difference between the average monthly salary and the aforementioned reference amount established by law. In any case, the sum of the allowance cannot exceed a maximum limit specified by law and reassessed annually based on changes to the ISTAT index, which is declared every year by the INPS via a circular published on the site (€1,300 for 2017, €1,314.30 for 2018 and €1,328.76 for 2019). From the first day of the fourth month for which the allowance has been claimed, a reduction of 3% each month is applied to the allowance.

The allowance is proportional to the income that was taxable for social security purposes during the past four years (including both continuous and non-continuous income and additional monthly salaries). This amount is divided by the total number of weeks in which contributions accrued (regardless of the verification of the minimum amount) and multiplied by the coefficient 4.33.

The sum of the allowance is reduced for the following cases:

• activity carried out autonomously that yields an annual salary corresponding to gross income tax equal to or less than the deductions due in accordance with the article 13 of the Italian Income Tax Code (TUIR) – decree of the President of the Republic, 22nd December 1986 n. 917 – that is, equal to €4,800. The allowance is reduced by 80% of the revenue expected to be earned in the period between the start date of the activity and either the date at which the allowance was terminated or the end of the year if this comes first. The beneficiary must inform the INPS within one month of the activity's start date or the date on which the claim for NASpl was submitted, if the activity was already taking place, using the SR161 form and declaring the annual salary they expect to earn from it. Failure to communicate the expected salary – even if equal to zero – within the aforementioned deadline will result in the forfeiture of the NASpI;
• new employment with an employment or para-subordinate contract resulting in an annual income corresponding to gross income tax equal to or less than the deductions due in accordance with the art. 13 of the Italian Income Tax Code, that is, equal to €8,000. The allowance is reduced by 80% of the revenue expected to be earned in the period between the start date of the activity and either the date at which the allowance was terminated or the end of the year if this comes first. In this case, the reduced allowance continues only if the following conditions are met:
  • the beneficiary informs the INPS of their annual expected salary within one month of the activity's start date or within one month of sending the NASpl claim, if this comes first;
  • if the employer or user (in the case of a supply contract) are different from the employer or user for whom the subject has provided his/her work activities when the employment relationship ended and gave rise to the right to NASpI and if they do not comply with the control/associative relationships with them or with coinciding ownership structures;
• if a holder of two or more part-time employment relationships terminates one of these contracts - following redundancy, lawful dismissal or the consensual termination of the employment contract under the procedure referred to in article 7 of the law of 15th July 1966 n. 604, as amended by paragraph 40 of article 1 of the law of 28th June 2012 n. 92. - is entitled to unemployment allowance provided that all other requirements are met and the collected income of the remaining employment relationship corresponds to gross income tax equal to or less than the deductions due in accordance with the art. 13 of the Italian Income Tax Code, that is, equal to €8,000. The income earner must inform the INPS of their annual expected salary from continuing employment contract(s) within one month of the claim date, even if equal to zero. In this case, the NASpl is reduced by 80% of the revenue expected to be earned in the period between the start date of the employment contract and either the date at which the allowance was terminated or the end of the year if this comes first;
• re-employment with an intermittent employment contract, with or without an on-call obligation, under the conditions indicated in the INPS circular 29th July 2015, n. 142 and in the message dated 16th March 2018, n. 1162.

For occasional work activities, the NASpI allowance is completely concurrent with the income obtained from undertaking such categories of work, within the limits of compensation for an amount that does not exceed €5,000 per calendar year (art. 54 bis, paragraph 4, decree law of 24th April 2017 n. 50 converted into the law of 21st June 2017 n. 96 and INPS circular of 23rd November 2017 n. 174).

The allowance can be received by crediting to a bank or post office account, by crediting a postal savings book or by bank transfer paid to a post office in the postcode of the claimer’s residence.

Under current legal provisions, public administrations cannot make payments in cash for services whose net amount exceeds the threshold established by law (currently €1,000).

SUSPENSION AND WITHDRAWAL OF BENEFIT

The allowance is suspended in cases of:

• re-employment with employment contract with a duration of no more than six months. The allowance is automatically suspended for the duration of the employment contract based on the obligatory declarations, unless the beneficiary of the allowance declares the expected annual income for the purpose of accumulation and as long as the income is less than €8,000;
• new employment in EU countries, non-EU countries or countries with which Italy has stipulated bilateral agreements regarding insurance against unemployment (see following section about working abroad).

The worker is no longer entitled to the allowance if he/she:

• is no longer unemployed;
• starts employment with a duration exceeding six months or permanent employment without informing the INPS of the expected annual income earned from this work within one month of the start date or of the submission date of the application if the employment relationship existed prior to the application;
• does not declare, within one month of the NASpI claim, the annual income he/she expects to earn from one or several part-time employment contracts that were in progress at the time of submitting the NASpI claim following the termination of another employment relationship ;
• enters self-employment or para-subordinate employment without notifying the INPS of the expected annual income within one month of its start date or of the claim submission date if self-employment existed prior to the claim;
• has met the requirements for old age retirement or early retirement;
• has acquired the right to ordinary invalidity allowance and does not opt for the NASpI allowance;
• in cases provided for by article 21 paragraph 7 of legislative decree 150/2015, if he/she does not participate, without valid reason, in the orientation programmes arranged by employment centres.

Article 21 of legislative decree 150/2015 strengthens cross-compliance mechanisms for the receipt of unemployment allowance and integrates and specifies the provisions of article 7 of legislative decree 22/2015 regarding the obligations to participate in active policy measures for the unemployed. Under article 21, non-compliance with the obligations results in proportional sanctions, ranging from reducing a monthly payment by a fractional amount or entirely, to removing the NASpI and the unemployed status.

For cases involving working abroad:

• if moving to an EU country, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Iceland to seek employment, the right to unemployment benefits is maintained for a maximum of three months in compliance with EC Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 and the worker is not subject to cross-compliance rules; from the first day of the fourth month, the right to receive the benefit is maintained, but in compliance with the cross-compliance rules set out in articles 20 and 21 of legislative decree 150/2015, the violation of which involves the consequent application of sanctions;
• if moving to an EU country, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Norway or Iceland or to a non-EU country for reasons other than seeking employment, the right to the benefit is maintained, but in observance of the cross-compliance rules referred to in articles 20 and 21 of legislative decree 150/2015, the violation of which involves the consequent application of sanctions;
• if moving to a non-EU country to seek employment, the right to the benefit is maintained, but in observance of the cross-compliance rules referred to in articles 20 and 21 of legislative decree 150/2015, the violation of which involves the consequent application of sanctions (INPS Circular 28th November 2017, n. 177).

REQUIREMENTS

The NASpI is granted to dependent workers who meet all requirements indicated below.

Unemployed status

An individual is considered unemployed if they do not have a job and has involuntarily lost their job and has informed the national employment policy portal, through electronic means, of their immediate availability to perform work activities and to participate in active policy measures organised with the employment centre. The submission of a claim for NASpI constitutes confirmation of the above declaration of immediate availability (DID). In the 15 days following the claim, the applicant must go to the employment centre to sign their personalised service agreement. Failing this, the insured person is summoned by the employment centre.

The status of unemployment must be involuntary; workers whose employment contract is terminated following resignation or consensual termination are therefore excluded. However, access to the NASpI, provided that other requirements are met, is also granted in the following cases:

• lawful dismissal, if the resignation was not the worker’s free decision but was caused by the behaviour of others which made the individual appear unsuitable for the employment contract (INPS Circular 20th October 2003, n. 163);
• resignation occurring during the protected maternity period, namely, from the 300 days before the expected birth date and until the baby is one year old;
• consensual termination of the employment contract, provided that it occurred within a conciliation process at the territorial labour direction in accordance with the methods referred to in article 7, law of 15th July 1966 n. 604, as replaced by article 1, paragraph 40 of law 92/2012;
• consensual termination following the worker’s refusal to relocate to another office of the same company situated more than 50 km from the worker’s residence and/or accessible by public transport in an average of 80 minutes or more;
• termination of employment following acceptance of an offer of conciliation as per article 6 of legislative decree 22/2015;
• disciplinary dismissal.

Contributory requirement

At least 13 weeks of unemployment insurance contributions must have been paid in the four years preceding the start date of the period of unemployment. Contributions can include ones which are due, but which have not been paid, and are valid for all paid weeks provided that the salary paid or due for each week is not lower than the minimum weekly amount (law of 11th November 1983, n. 638 and law of 7th December 1989, n. 389). The provision concerning reference salaries does not apply to workers assigned to domestic and family services or to agricultural workers and apprentices, for whom the current rules continue to apply.

To meet the contribution requirement, the following are considered:

• social security contributions including contributions against unemployment paid during the employment contract;
• imputed contributions credited for obligatory maternity leave, if at the beginning of the period of absence the contribution had already been paid or due and for periods of parental leave, if compensated and undertaken during an employment contract.
• periods of employment abroad in EU countries or countries with which an agreement has been reached where there is a possibility of aggregation;
• periods of absence from work due to the illness of a child up to the age of 8 years, for a maximum of 5 working days per calendar year.

If the worker has periods of employment in the agricultural sector and other non-agricultural sectors, the periods can be aggregated in order to obtain the NASpI unemployment allowance, provided that in the four-year period taken into account, the non-agricultural contributions are higher. If, in the four-year period, the agricultural contributions are higher, it is possible to assess only the 12 months preceding the termination of the employment contract to determine a predominance of non-agricultural contributions. If, during this period, there is a higher number of contributions from the non-agricultural sector, the claim for NASpI, provided all other requirements are met, is admissible. The following periods involving imputed contributions are not taken into account as they do not involve actual contributions:

• illness and accident at work, if the employer makes no integration to the pay, in compliance with the minimum wage;
• extraordinary and ordinary wage compensation funds with suspension of ‘zero-hour’ employment;
• back dated job security agreements applied to zero-hour employment;
• time off and paid leave taken by a worker who is the cohabiting spouse, parent, cohabiting child or sibling of a seriously disabled person, cohabiting third-degree relative of the seriously disabled individual in cases where the cohabiting spouse, both parents, cohabiting children or siblings are absent, have died or suffer from a debilitating illness;
• unpaid leave for elective public office appointments or trade union positions, pursuant to article 31 of the law of 20th May 1970, n. 300.

Periods of employment abroad in States with which Italy does not have bilateral agreements regarding insurance against unemployment are not considered.

To determine the four-year verification period for the contribution requirement, the periods that are not taken into account must be offset by increasing the four-year reference period.

With regards to workers with supply employment contracts, intermittent employment contracts and workers who are registered in professional retraining programmes (legislative decree n. 81 of 15th June 2015) - whose work activities are characterised by irregular periods of work and absence from work that are not a result of the worker’s own decision - the periods of unemployment are not offset for the purpose of assessing contribution requirements (INPS Circular 27th November 2015, n. 194).

Employment requirements

At least 30 days of employment must have been undertaken during the 12 months preceding the start date of the unemployment period. The days of work carried out are those in which the individual attended work, regardless of the number of hours spent there.

For workers employed in domestic and family services, who do not know the number of days actually spent working, their attendance at work for at least 30 days in the past 12 months is determined using the same system used for confirming contributions and for the payment of domestic workers’ allowances: the payment of 5 weeks’ worth of contributions, conventionally considered to be 6 days per week, equalling 30 days of work.

Considering that to calculate the number of weeks worked, each quarter is taken into account and that 24 hours are required for one week of cover, the number of weeks worked in a quarter are calculated by adding the total number of hours worked in a quarter and dividing this figure by 24: for example, 80 hours worked in the quarter/24 = 3.33 weeks of contribution, which is rounded to 4.

The requirement is met when, in the 12 months preceding the beginning of the unemployment period, the number of weeks resulting from the sum of the weekly contributions recognised for each quarter and paid by the employer or employers - if the worker had more than one employment contract - is at least 5.

For other categories of workers, for whom it is not possible to trace the number of days worked (home workers and workers with contributory data from foreign forms), the requirement is met provided that 5 weeks of contributions were paid in the 12 months preceding the termination of employment.

For agricultural workers, when the number of days worked does not appear in the electronic archives or if they are not yet up to date, the employee's pay slips will be used to verify the 30 days of actual work in the last 12 months.

Certain events, if they occur or are in progress during the 12 months preceding unemployment, can result in the extension of the 12-month period used for the 30-day requirement. Such events are:

• illness and accident at work;
• extraordinary and ordinary wage compensation funds with suspension of ‘zero-hour’ employment;
• periods involving back dated job security agreements applied to zero-hour employment;
• time off and paid leave taken by a worker who is the cohabiting spouse, parent, cohabiting child or sibling of a seriously disabled person, cohabiting third-degree relative of the seriously disabled individual in cases where the cohabiting spouse, both parents, cohabiting children or siblings are absent, have died or suffer from a debilitating illness;
• absence from work for obligatory maternity leave provided that, at the beginning of the period of absence, contributions are due or already paid;
• absence from work for parental leave, provided it is regularly compensated and occurs within an employment contract;
• periods in which the individual received an availability allowance and during which time they, within a permanent employment contract, were involved in retraining programmes;
• periods in which unpaid leave was taken for political or trade union reasons, as laid out in article 31, of law 300/1970;
• periods of employment abroad in States with which Italy does not have bilateral agreements regarding insurance against unemployment.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must be submitted to the INPS exclusively using electronic means, with the possibility of being revoked within 68 days, starting from:

• the date at which the employment contract terminated;
• the termination of the compensated period of maternity leave if said leave occurred during the employment contract that was subsequently terminated;
• the end of the compensated period of illness or accident at work/occupational disease, if they arose during the employment contract that was subsequently terminated;
• the settlement of a union dispute or the notification date of a judicial sentence;
• the end of the period corresponding to the pay in lieu of notice calculated on a daily basis;
• the thirty-eighth day after the date of termination, in the event of lawful dismissal.

The deadline for submitting the claim is deferred in the following cases:

• in the event of maternity leave entitled to compensation that occurs within 68 days from the date at which the employment contract terminated, the deadline is deferred for a period equal to the duration of the maternity leave entitled to compensation and resumes for the outstanding time period once the afore-mentioned leave ends;
• in the event of a common illness that is eligible for compensation from the INPS or an accident at work/occupational disease that is eligible for compensation from the INAIL, which arises within 60 days from the date at which the employment contract terminated, the deadline is deferred for the duration of the illness or injury and resumes for the outstanding time period upon the termination of the illness or injury.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must be submitted on-line using the dedicated service. Before accessing the service, you can download and consult the “NASpI: submission claims” tutorial for instructions on filling in the related fields. To understand how to use the other NASpI services related to this sheet, we also recommend downloading the tutorials: “NASpI: consultation claims” and “NASpI: communications”.

Alternatively, applications can be made by:

• Telephoning the contact centre on +39 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +39 06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• Telematic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof.