INPS

The benefit is granted to those who receive pensions from the Dependent workers’ Pension Fund (FPLD), the Special Pension Funds and ENPALS who have a total income below the bands established by law each year.

The Family allowance is not available to those who receive a pension under the special pension schemes for self-employed workers (artisans, traders, independent farmers, tenant farmers and sharecroppers), who are, instead, granted supplementary allowances for family support (Family Allowances).

Start date and duration

Payment of the family benefit starts from the date on which the pension begins or from the claimed date, if later than the date on which the pension benefit starts, until the end of the month in which the recipient no longer meets the eligibility requirements.

What am I entitled to?

Eligibility for the allowance and the amount thereof depend on the number of family members, the income of the household and the type of household concerned.

Tables illustrating the amounts and income brackets are published each year and are valid from 1 July to 30 June of the following year (INPS Circular no. 60 of 21 May 2020).

The Family allowance is granted upon claim. It is paid together with the pension instalment. The pensioner's spouse, if entitled to payment of the Family allowance, can receive the family benefit, even if he or she is not a pensioner. Entitlement and the amount of the allowance are, in any case, determined in relation to the pensioner's claim, whereas the right granted to the pensioner's spouse relates solely to the payment of the benefit (INPS Circular no. 77 of 16 June 2005).

Requirements

The household can be composed of:

• a pensioner;
• spouse/civil partner provided that he or she has not legally and effectively separated from the marriage or terminated the civil partnership;
• children and equivalents under the 18 years of age, children and equivalents with an absolute and permanent impossibility to work in paid employment (provided that they are not married), children and equivalents who are students or apprentices, aged over 18 and under 21, provided they belong to a 'large family’;
• brothers and sisters of the applicant and nephews and nieces (collateral or of lineal descent, who are not dependent on the ascendant), minors or adults with an absolute and permanent impossibility to work in paid employment who are unmarried and only if they are double orphans and not entitled to a survivor's pension;
• grandchildren of lineal descent who are under the age of 18 and financially dependent on the ascendant.

The household may consist of a single person if the person concerned is an orphan in receipt of an employee survivor's pension, who is either under the age of 18 or who is an adult incapable of working in paid employment.

How can I claim?

The claim for the Family allowance can be submitted together with the pension claim or at a later date by submitting a claim for the reconstitution of the pension.

Those in receipt of a pension from INPS must submit their claim via electronic means to the institution that is responsible for paying the benefit.

The claim must be accompanied by a tax return stating the income of the household and a self-certification attesting to the composition of the household.

If the claim is submitted after the eligibility requirements have been met, the due arrears are paid up to a maximum of five years (five-year limitation period).

Any changes (marriages, separations, deaths, etc.) to the composition of the household and income (termination of the employment relationship, retirement, etc.) must be reported within 30 days, accompanied by a new income form (if applicable).