Unemployment benefits: NASpI, DIS-COLL and repatriated workers

New Social Insurance for Employees (NASpI)

If you are an employee and have been made redundant involuntarily, you can claim NASpI benefits if:

• you have accrued 13 weeks of contributions in the four years prior to the employment termination date;
• you have accrued 30 days of actual work in the 12 months prior to the employment termination date.

The benefit is incompatible with the following benefits:

• old-age or early retirement pension;
• ordinary invalidity allowance, if you do not opt for the NASpI allowance;
• incapacity pension.

You must sign a personalised service agreement at the Employment Centres and regularly take part in job placement and retraining initiatives.

Applying for NASpI amounts to a statement of immediate availability for work.

NASpI cannot be combined with:

• maternity/paternity, sickness, old age (IPS) or accident benefits, workers’ redundancy fund (CIG) or mobility;
• pay in lieu of notice (permanent contracts);
• post-landing sickness benefit, in the case of seafarers.

Unemployment benefit for fixed-term contract workers (DIS-COLL)

If you are:

• a fixed-term contract or project-based worker;
• a research fellow;
• a research PhD student on a scholarship;

and you are exclusively registered with the INPS separate management and have been made redundant involuntarily, you can apply for the DIS-COLL benefit.

The DIS-COLL starts:

• from the eighth day following termination of the working relationship;
• or from the day after submitting the application, if it is submitted later than the eighth day.

DIS-COLL is paid monthly, for a number of months equal to the number of months of contributions credited in the period between 1 January of the year preceding the termination of employment event and the aforementioned event, for up to one year. The amount is 75 % of the average monthly income (if equal to or less than EUR 1425,21 in 2024). The DIS-COLL cannot, however, exceed the maximum amount of EUR 1550.42 for 2024. After the sixth month’s payment, the amount goes down by 3 % each month.

Unemployment benefit for returning workers

You can make this application if you are an Italian national and you have been made redundant as a result of dismissal or non-renewal of your employment contract abroad in an EU or third country and you have decided to return to Italy and are not entitled to any other unemployment benefit in the country where you last worked.

From the date of dismissal or termination of the seasonal employment contract, you have 180 days to return to Italy. Once you return, you will have to go to an Employment Centre within 30 days of that date and register by submitting a Declaration of Immediate Availability (DID).

Subsequently, you can apply for unemployment benefit to the National Social Welfare Institution (INPS) in accordance with the required procedures (online, ‘Patronato’ (Italian welfare agency), etc.). There are no deadlines for submitting this application.

If you come from a country that applies EU law, before you leave you should be issued with a PD U1 Portable Document that contains all the insurance information needed to process your application quicker. Alternatively, the INPS offices will request information from the country of last employment.

However, if you are returning from a Non-EU country, you will have to provide the declaration of termination or non-renewal of the employment contract by the employer abroad or by the competent Italian consular authority.

If you register with the Employment Centre within seven days of the date of your return (which must be certified or self-certified but may be checked), your unemployment benefit will be paid from the date of your return; if you register with the Employment Centre within 8 to 31 days of this date, the benefit will be paid from the date of registration.

The allowance may be paid to you for up to 180 days and the amount will be calculated at 30 % of the contractual remuneration fixed by a Ministry of Labour order published each year.

If you return to work for at least five days or return abroad, you are no longer entitled to this benefit.

If you have already obtained a repatriated unemployment benefit once, you can only claim it again if you have worked for at least 12 months, out of which at least seven months abroad.

INCOMPATIBILITIES

The benefit for returning workers is incompatible with:

• other unemployment benefits from the EU country where you last worked or due under international agreements between Italy and the other country (although you may not be entitled to it or be entitled to the difference between the days already paid and up to 180 eligible days);
• other benefits (pension, sickness, maternity benefit);
• if you return to work or change the conditions given to the Employment Centre.

If you have dependent family members, you can claim family allowances (ANF) for them.

Please consult the following chapters of the Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC) to find out under what circumstances and how you can apply, what you are entitled to and who you can contact.

NB: updates for 2020 are being published by the MISSOC Secretariat.

Unemployment benefits - NASpI and DIS-COLL

Applicable statutory basis

• Law No 402 of 25 July 1975 - Unemployment benefits for returning workers (Italian Official Gazette No 226 of 26-08-1975).
• Legislative Decree No 22 of 4 March 2015 Provisions for the reorganisation of the legislation on social safety nets in the event of involuntary redundancy and relocation of unemployed workers, pursuant to Law No 183 of 10 December 2014.
• Legislative Decree No 148 of 14 September 2015: Provisions for the reorganisation of the legislation on social safety nets in the context of an ongoing employment relationship, implementing Law No 183 of 10 December 2014.
• Legislative Decree No 150 of 14 September 2015: Provisions for the reorganisation of legislation on employment services and active policies, in accordance with Article 1(3) of Law No 183 of 10 December 2014.
• Decree-Law No 18 of 17 March 2020 (converted to Law No 27 of 24 April 2020): Measures to strengthen the National Health Service and provide financial support for families, workers and businesses linked to the COVID-19 epidemiological emergency.