INPS

The following workers are entitled to the incapacity pension:

• dependent workers;
• self-employed workers (artisans, traders, independent farmers, sharecroppers and tenant farmers);
• workers enrolled in Separate Pension Scheme.

Start date and duration

The incapacity pension starts from the 1st day of the month subsequent to that of submitting the claim if all the requisites, both health and administrative, required are met.

The incapacity pension may be subject to revision.

What am I entitled to?

The amount is determined using the mixed calculation system (a part calculated using contributions in the wage based scheme and a part calculated using the contributory system) or based on the total social security pension contributions, if the worker started work after 31 December 1995.

The qualifying contributions are increased (up to a maximum of 2080 weekly contributions) by the number of weeks elapsing between the start of the pension and the age of 60 for both women and men following the introduction of the contributory system for seniority accrued from 1 January 2012.

Pensioners with incapacity, who are unable to walk without the permanent help of a carer or who are unable to perform the daily acts of life, can apply for the personal and continuous assistance allowance.

The allowance for personal and continuous assistance is not disbursed in case of hospitalisation in care or social institutes provided by the public administration;

• it is not compatible with the monthly allowance payable by INAIL to disabled people as continuous personal assistance;
• is granted to a limited extent to those who receive a similar benefit paid by other mandatory social security and welfare forms, in an amount corresponding to the amount of the benefit;
• is not reversible to survivors.

Only members enrolled in the Compulsory General Insurance (AGO) are entitled to the preferential incapacity retiremen pension when the incapacity is ascribable, with a direct causal link, to the service provided by the insured during employment subject to the insurance obligation for invalidity, old age and survivors.

The right to the preferential incapacity pension cannot be recognised when the incapacitating event effects the right of annuity to be paid by the insurance against accidents at work and occupational illness, or to continuous social security and welfare payments disbursed by the State and other public institutes.

Requirements

The incapacity pension is payable to individuals who find it completely and permanently impossible to perform work activities due to illness or physical or mental difficulties as assessed by the INPS Legal Medical Commission. They must also have paid at least 260 weeks of contributions (five years of contribution and insurance) of which 156 weeks (three years of contribution and insurance) during this five-year period precede the submission date of the claim.

It is also required:

• the termination of any type of work activity;
• the deletion from the registry lists of agricultural workers and from the lists of self-employed workers;
• removal from professional registers;
• the relinquishment of payments disbursed by the compulsory unemployment insurance and any other substitute or supplementary payments.

How can I claim?

The medical certificate must be attached to the claim (form SS3 completed and submitted by the attending doctors).

The claim must be submitted to INPS online via the dedicated service.

Alternatively, the claim can be submitted:

• by phoning the Contact Centre at 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• via electronic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof.