INPS

Benefits are granted to all dependent workers, excluding managers, of insurance companies (regardless of their names and duly constituted) and insurance assistance. Furthermore, beneficiaries include dependent workers employed by the companies controlled by the aforementioned companies, provided that they carry out activities deemed as instrumental or connected with the activities of insurance, reinsurance or insurance assistance.

Beneficiaries also include personnel employed by sectoral institutions or category associations in the insurance and assistance insurance sectors, provided that a joint claim for joining the Fund is submitted by the company and the trade unions and that such claim receives a favourable opinion by the Fund's Management Committee.

Start date and duration

Access to ordinary benefits is subject to the completion of the contractual procedures that modify working conditions of personnel involved or determine the decrease of employment levels provided for by the legislation. These procedures must be concluded with a company agreement. In the case of processes to reduce employment levels, all benefits provided can be accessed.

The disbursement of funding for training programs cannot last more than 12 months. The ordinary allowance can be granted for a period of no less than 13 weeks in a two-year rolling period and not exceeding, depending on the reason invoked, the maximum durations envisaged by the causes identified for the Ordinary and Extraordinary Wage Compensation Fund.

What am I entitled to?

For training programs, the contribution is equal to the corresponding gross remuneration (identified by collective bargaining) due to the workers in question, reduced by the possible contribution of national or European Union funds.

For ordinary allowances, the benefit amount is set at 80% of the taxable payment for social security purposes that would have been due to the worker for the hours not worked (with application of the maximums of the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund) reduced by the amount equal to the contributions envisaged for the apprentices referred to in Article 26, Law No. 41 of 28 February 1986. This amount is revalued annually. The allowance is reduced for the possible concomitance of income support instruments provided for by the legislation in force on the Wage Compensation Fund for industry.

For 2020, the maximum monthly amount of the benefit, payable net of the 5.84% decrease that remains available to the Fund, is equal to €939,89 for salaries equal to or less than € 2.159,48, and to €1.129,66 for salaries greater than €2.159,48 (INPS circular No. 20 of 10 February 2020). For the period during which the grant is paid, the relevant contribution is paid, which is calculated on the basis of the taxable payment for social security purposes and is useful for obtaining the right to a pension (including early retirement) as well as for calculating its size. The calculation is based on the financing rate in force in the relevant compulsory insurance management.
The Fund operates in accordance with the balanced budget principle and cannot make payments if it has no financial resources. The payments borne by the Fund are granted following the creation of specific financial reserves and within the limits of the resources already acquired.

For ordinary services (training and ordinary checks) they are due to the Fund: the ordinary contribution of 0.30% (of which two-thirds are borne by the employer and one third by the workers), calculated on the taxable payment for social security purposes for all dependent workers with permanent contracts, excluding managers (any changes in the amount are distributed between employer and employee according to the same distribution criteria); the additional contribution of 1.5% (to be paid by the employer in the event of using the benefits of the ordinary allowance), calculated on the salaries taxable for social security purposes and applied to salaries lost by dependent workers who receive benefits.

Once the financing has been approved by the Fund's Management Committee, the regionally competent INPS office issues the relevant payment authorisation, deemed necessary for payment of the economic benefit to the workers in question.

Ordinary benefits are authorised with an adjustment payment by the employer. For the disclosure of data deemed necessary for the recovery of the amounts advanced in the adjustment payment, employers will be able to make use of the new Uniemens flow, as explained with the INPS circular No. 170 of 15 November 2017.

Requirements

To access training programs, workers must be the recipients of a company agreement regarding training programs for retraining or professional re-training in the context of processes that modify the working conditions of staff.

For ordinary allowances it is necessary for workers to be affected by the decrease in working hours or suspension of work due to the reasons provided for by the legislation on ordinary or extraordinary wage supplementation. The wage supplement must be granted for the time deemed necessary to resume interrupted production activities. The intervention, therefore, is aimed at supporting both cases of contingent and short-term corporate crises, and cases of corporate crises prolonged over time and linked to a downsizing of production.

The granting of the ordinary allowance is subject to the condition that the recipient worker, during the period of decrease or suspension of work, does not carry out any type of work activities in favour of third parties, with the exception of ancillary work services referred to in Articles 48 and following, Italian Legislative Decree No. 81 of 15 June 2015. The reference to the provisions in force is deemed valid pursuant to INPS circular No. 130 of 4 October 2010.

How can I claim?

The claim for accessing ordinary benefits must be submitted electronically by the company (INPS circular No. 122 of 17 June 2015 and INPS circular No. 201 of 16 December 2015). It will be taken into consideration by the Fund's Management Committee, which decides on the granting of benefits, according to the chronological order in which the claims are submitted and the Fund's assets, as well as on the basis of the priorities expressed by the Committee itself.