Insurance Fund

The Fund aims to intervene against workers in crisis situations, restructuring, corporate reorganisation, decrease or transformation of activities or work, in order to favour changes and renewal of professionalism and implement active policies of income and employment support.

The Fund provides for the following ordinary payments:

• funding of training programmes for professional conversion 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 (Income support allowance) for the causes envisaged by the legislation on ordinary and extraordinary wage compensation.

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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.

Following the amendments introduced by Law 234/2021 to Article 2, paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree 148/2015, from 1 January 2022, all workers employed under apprenticeship contracts (INPS circular of 1 February 2022, no. 18 (in Italian)) and home workers will also be entitled to income support benefits.

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WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

For training programmes, 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.

The Income Support Allowance is paid at 80% of the total remuneration that would have been due for the hours not worked, from zero hours up to the contractual limit, but in any case not exceeding 40 hours per week, within the ceiling limits, re-evaluated annually, as provided for the Ordinary Wage Compensation Fund (CIGO). Pursuant to Article 26 of Law No. 41 of 28 February 1986, a 5.84% reduction is applied to this amount, corresponding to the contribution rate for apprentices under Article 21 of the same law, which remains available to the Fund.

From 1 January 2022, a single threshold limit will be applied, regardless of the monthly salary used as a reference for calculating the benefit (Article 3, paragraph 5-bis of Legislative Decree 148/2015, INPS Circular No. 18 of 1 February 2022). The allowance is reduced if income support measures provided for by current legislation on the Industrial Wage Compensation Fund are also applied.

In 2025, the maximum payable benefit, after the 5.84% reduction, is €1,322.05 (INPS Circular No. 25 of 29 January 2025(in Italian)). 

The Fund must balance its budget and cannot pay benefits without sufficient financial resources. Its interventions are authorised only after establishing specific financial reserves and within the limits of already acquired resources.

For ordinary benefits (training programmes and Income Support Allowances) two types of contributions are payable to the Fund:

• the ordinary contribution of 0.3% (two-thirds paid by the employer and one-third by the employees), based on the taxable remuneration for social security purposes of all employees with permanent contracts, excluding managers (any changes in the amount are shared between the employer and the employee according to the same allocation criteria);
• an additional contribution of 1.5% (paid by the employer if income support allowance benefits are paid), calculated on the taxable income for social security purposes lost by employees receiving the benefits.

Once the Fund's Administrative Committee has approved the financing, the relevant local INPS office issues the payment authorisation, which is necessary for the payment of the financial compensation to the affected workers.

Ordinary benefits (Income Support Allowance and training) are authorised with the payment of the balance by the employer. Employers may use the Uniemens flow to communicate the data necessary for recovering the sums advanced in the adjustment payment, as illustrated in INPS Circular No. 170 of 15 November 2017 (in Italian).

Direct payment of the Income Support Allowance to beneficiaries may only be authorised by the Fund's Administrative Committee in cases of serious and documented financial difficulties of the company.

The related contribution, if the Allowance is paid, is calculated based on the taxable remuneration for social security purposes and is useful for:

• the acquisition of pension rights (including early pension);
• the determination of the pension amount is based on the current financing rate in the relevant compulsory insurance scheme.

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These procedures must be completed with a company agreement.

For training programmes, it is necessary for the recipient, within the framework of processes that alter staff working conditions, to have an agreement related to retraining or professional re-qualification programmes.

To qualify for income support allowances, workers must experience a reduction in working hours or suspension of work for reasons specified in legislation on ordinary or extraordinary wage compensation. Income support is provided for the duration needed to restart the halted production activity. The measure aims to assist both short-term business crises and long-term downturns related to a reduction in production.

The payment of the Income Support Allowance is conditional on the recipient worker not engaging in any type of work for third parties during the period of reduced or suspended work. However, reference to the provisions in force in INPS Circular No. 130 of 4 October 2010 (in Italian) regarding the compatibility of income support with self-employed or employed work is regarded as valid.

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 (in Italian) and INPS circular No. 201 of 16 December 2015 (in Italian)).

If the implementation of decisions adopted by the Committee reveals any aspects of illegality, the decision may be suspended by the Director General of INPS. The suspension measure, indicating the rule that is considered to have been violated, shall be adopted within five days and submitted to the President of INPS, who shall decide within the following three months whether to proceed with the decision or to annul it. After this period, the decision becomes enforceable.

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