Solidarity fund for income support, employment and professional reskilling and retraining of Poste Italiane Group employees.

The Fund aims to intervene against workers in crisis situations, restructuring, corporate reorganisation, reduction or transformation of activities or work, in order to favour the change and renewal of professionalism and implement active policies of income and employment support (circular No. 205 of INPS of 1 December 2016) (in Italian).

The Fund provides for the following ordinary payments: funding of training programmes for professional training and/or retraining, including with the support of national and European funds; income support benefits for workers affected by reduced working hours or temporary suspension of employment (Wage subsidy allowances), for the causes envisaged by the legislation on ordinary and extraordinary income support

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Following the amendments introduced by Law no. 234/2021 to Article 2, paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree no. 148/2015, as of 1 January 2022, all workers employed under an apprenticeship contract (INPS Circular no. 18 of 1 February 2022) (in Italian). and home workers are also eligible for wage subsidies.

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The wage supplement must be granted for the time deemed necessary to resume interrupted production activities.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

For training programmes, the contribution is equal to the corresponding gross remuneration 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 between zero hours and the contractual hour limit.

Pursuant to Article 26 of Law no. 41 of 28 February 1986, a reduction of 5.84% is applied to this amount: this is equivalent to the contribution rate for apprentices and remains with the Fund.

From 1 January 2022, the limit of a single ceiling is applied, regardless of the reference monthly remuneration, for the calculation of the benefit (INPS circular no. 18 of 1 February 2022) (in Italian).

The amounts are revalued very year with the methods and criteria in place for the industry wage compensation fund. The Allowance is reduced in the event of concurrent income support instruments provided for by law regarding the wage compensation fund for industry.

In 2025, the maximum payable benefit amount, net of the 5.84% reduction, is 1,322.05 euro (INPS Circular no. 25 of 29 January 2025) (in Italian).

The Fund operates in accordance with the balanced budget principle and cannot make payments if it has no financial resources. 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 Wage subsidy allowances) two types of contributions are due to the Fund: the ordinary contribution of 0.50% (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 wage subsidy allowances), 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 (Wage subsidy allowance and training) 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 balance payment, employers will be able to make use of the Uniemens flow, as explained with the INPS circular No. 170 of 15 November 2017 (in Italian).

Direct payment of the Wage subsidy allowance to beneficiaries may be authorised by the Fund's Management Committee only in cases of serious and documented financial hardship of the company.

The correlated contribution, due in the event of payment of a wage subsidy allowance, 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 scheme.

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For training programmes, within the framework of processes modifying personnel working conditions, it is necessary to be covered by an agreement concerning professional reskilling or retraining programmes.

Wage subsidy allowances can be accessed by all workers affected by a decrease in working hours or suspension of work, for reasons provided for by the legislation on ordinary or extraordinary wage supplementation.

The granting of the wage subsidy 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. The reference to the provisions in force is deemed valid pursuant to INPS circular No. 130 of 4 October 2010 (in Italian) regarding the compatibility of wage subsidies with self-employment or salaried work remains applicable..

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 INPS circular No. 201 of 16 December 2015) (in Italian). 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.
Should the Committee identify any grounds for illegality, the resolution may be suspended by the General Manager of INPS. The suspension order, specifying the law deemed to have been violated, is issued within five days and submitted to the President of INPS who, within the following three months, shall determine whether to proceed with the decision or annul it. After the above deadline, the decision becomes enforceable.

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