Description
This is an article on voluntary and/or compulsory social security contributions made by individuals who are authorised to make compulsory and/or voluntary social security contributions to INPS/social security bodies and/or supplementary pension funds for periods spent providing home care and looking after their family members and/or relatives who are not self-sufficient and who are in receipt of a carer’s allowance or other equivalent benefit, up to the 4th degree and/or 3rd degree of kinship.
A ‘family member’ of the applicant is defined as: the spouse, the person with whom they are in a civil partnership, a relative in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th degree; a relative by marriage of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree; a cohabiting partner as certified by the registry office; or a relative of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree of the cohabiting partner.
The person receiving care must be in receipt of the carer’s allowance or an equivalent benefit, or, in the case of children under the age of 5, also of another benefit for civil disability.
DURATION AND AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTIONS
The contribution towards social security cover for periods spentcaring for non-self-sufficient family membersis granted:
- up to €4,000.00 per year to support voluntary contributions to the INPS or another social security fund. The contribution may be increased to up to €9,000.00 if the care is provided forchildren or children in foster care (living with the applicant and listed on the applicant’s registration certificate) under the age of five, provided they are not enrolled in educational establishments or day centres for people with disabilities;
- up to €4,000.00 per year to support compulsory contributions paid by self-employed workers or freelancers;
- up to €4,000.00 per year to support supplementary pension schemes.
The allowance is calculated in proportion to the number of weeks or months spent caring for the dependent family member and covered by social security contributions.
The grant tosupport voluntary orcompulsorypension contributionsis, in any case, payable up to the limit of the pension contributions made.
In the case ofpart-time workers, the contribution to support voluntary contributions and supplementary pension schemes is reduced by half (maximum amount: 2,000.00 euros) and is calculated in proportion to the number of contribution weeks accumulated over the calendar year; it is payable, up to the amount of the pension contribution paid, taking into account the top-up of compulsory contributions determined by the social security institution up to 100 per cent of those applicable to full-time employment.
For the purposes ofsupplementary pension support, at the time of submitting the application for the grant, the applicant must be enrolled in one of the supplementary pension schemes governed by Legislative Decree No. 252/2005 and must have made contribution payments totalling at least €500.00, excluding severance pay and the employer’s contribution. The contribution is paid directly by Pensplan Centrum Spa on behalf of the Province (see the agreement entered into on 24 January 2022) to the supplementary pension scheme to which the beneficiary is enrolled, without the need for any outlay on the part of the beneficiary, provided that the aforementioned contribution requirements are met. If, at the time of payment, there is no longer any supplementary pension scheme in place due to retirement or full redemption, the sums due are paid directly to the individual concerned; in the event of death, the sums due are paid directly to the heirs.
Restrictions
Applications must be submitted by 31 December of the year following that to which the voluntary and/or compulsory social security contributions relate and/or the year in which the period spent caring for a dependent family member took place, for the purposes of the supplementary pension contribution.
The contribution is payable, amongst other things, provided that the person for whom the applicant is providing care is in receipt of a civil disability benefit, if under the age of five, or of a carer’s allowance or other equivalent benefit in other cases (the Provincial Social Care Agency reserves the right to verify this directly).
The allowance is not payable if the applicant is simultaneously engaged in employment, including that provided for under Article 18 of Law No 97 of 31 January 1994 (New provisions for mountain areas), self-employment or freelance work. The legislation stipulates that there is no concurrent employment where, even where there is a single activity, there is an obligation to pay contributions to more than one compulsory social security fund or institution, or where membership of more than one fund or institution is required as a result of the actual simultaneous performance of work within one’s own sole company, of which one is simultaneously an active partner, a self-employed worker and a director.
Only one grant may be awarded for care or assistance provided to the same person during the same period, even if the applications are submitted by different individuals.
Contributions to support supplementary pension schemes may also be paid for periods covered by notional contributions, excluding those arising from job loss, and may be combined with the allowances and leave provided for under Legislative Decree No. 151 of 26 March 2001.
The grant cannot be combined with the social security grant for the care and assistance of minor and foster children (Regional Law 1/2005, Article 1), the social security contribution for pension purposes for homemakers (Regional Law 7/1992, Articles 4 and 6-bis), the social security contribution for artists (Regional Law 4/2020), the social security contribution for self-employed agricultural workers if the owner of the farm is the same person as the beneficiary of the scheme (Regional Law 7/1992, Article 14) and is also incompatible with enrolment in the regional voluntary pension scheme for homemakers (Regional Law 3/1993).