Application for a social security allowance for the care of minor children

This is a contribution relating to voluntary and/or compulsory social security contributions paid by persons authorised to make compulsory and/or voluntary social security contributions to INPS/social security bodies or supplementary pension funds for periods spent caring for and bringing up their own minor children and/or foster children aged under 3 and/or 5 years.

Minor and/or foster children must be living with the applicant and be listed on the applicant’s family register. In the case of foster care, the family register entry may be disregarded.

Where the adoption order is issued in a foreign country, the date of the adoption order refers to the date of the order by which the Juvenile Court in Italy directs the transcription of the foreign adoption order into the civil registers.

‘Foster care’ refers both to full-time foster care as provided for under Title I-bis of Law No. 184 of 4 May 1983, and to pre-adoption foster care as provided for under Title II, Chapter III of the same law.

DURATION AND AMOUNT OF THE BENEFIT

The allowance to cover social securitycontributions for periods spent caring for and bringing up children or children in foster care is payablefrom the child’s third month of life and up to the child’s third birthday, or up to three years from the date of the adoption order. In the case of foster care, the allowance is payable for the entire duration of the foster care placement and, in any event, until the foster child reaches the age of 18.

The amount of the contribution is calculated:

• up to €9,000.00 per annum to support voluntary contributions to INPS or another social security fund, up to a maximum total of €18,000;
• up to €4,000.00 per annum to support compulsory contributions paid by self-employed workers or freelancers, up to a maximum total of €8,000;
• up to €4,000.00 per year to support supplementary pension schemes, up to a maximum total of €8,000,

in proportion to the number of weeks/months spent on the care and upbringing of children and covered by social security contributions.

The allowance tosupport voluntary continued contributions orcompulsorypension schemesis, in any case, payable up to the limit of the social security contribution made.

The allowance for those in part-time employmentis payable from the child’s third month of life until the child reaches the age of five. In the case of foster care, the allowance is payable for the entire duration of the foster care arrangement and, in any event, until the foster child reaches the age of 18.

The amount of the allowance is calculated:

• up to €4,500.00 per annum for voluntary continued contributions to the INPS, up to a maximum total of €18,000;
• up to €2,000.00 per year in the case of supplementary pension contributions, up to a maximum total of €8,000;

proportionally to the number of contribution weeks made during the calendar year and is payable, up to the limit of the pension contributions made, taking into account the top-up of compulsory contributions determined by the pension institution up to 100 per cent of those provided for 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 contributions 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 Autonomous Province of Trento (see the agreement entered into on 24 January 2022) to the supplementary pension scheme with which the beneficiary is enrolled, without the need for any outlay on the part of the beneficiary, provided that the aforementioned contribution requirements have been met. If, at the time of payment, there is no longer any supplementary pension scheme in place as a result of 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.

Applications must be submitted:

a) by 31 December of the year following that to which the voluntary and compulsory social security contributions relate;

b) within six months of the deadline set for making voluntary social security contributions for those in part-time employment;

c) by 31 December of the year following that in which the period dedicated to the care of a minor child took place, for those enrolled in a supplementary pension scheme.

The contribution is not payable where the individual is simultaneously engaged in employed work – 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 simultaneous employment where, even if only one activity is carried out, 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 person and a director.

This grant cannot be combined with the measures provided for in Article 2 of Regional Law No. 1 of 18 February 2005, Regional Law No. 4 of 26 November 2020, nor with the measures provided for in Articles 4, 6-bis, 6-ter and, where the owner of the agricultural holding is the same person as the beneficiary, with the support provided for in Article 14 of Regional Law No. 7 of 25 July 1992; it is also incompatible with enrolment in the voluntary regional pension scheme for homemakers referred to in Regional Law No. 3 of 28 February 1993.

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 persons.

Grants 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 following are eligible to apply:

• anyone who is not enrolled in a compulsory pension scheme and who is authorised to make voluntary pension contributions (to the INPS or one of the pension funds for the self-employed) or who is enrolled in a supplementary pension scheme;
• employees in the private sector only, for periods of unpaid leave without benefits and without compulsory social security cover and/or on leave, excluding periods of unemployment;
• self-employed men and women;
• freelancers;
• private-sector employees on a part-time contract with working hours amounting to up to 70 per cent of the full-time working hours;
• domestic workers registered with supplementary pension schemes.

The applicant must:

1. have been resident, without interruption, in the Trentino-Alto Adige region for at least 5 years as at the date of application, or have been resident without interruption for at least 1 year if they can demonstrate a total of at least 15 years’ residence over the course of their lifetime;

2. and not be in receipt of a direct pension (a pension-type benefit paid on the basis of their own contributions, including imputed contributions, or on the basis of social security membership of any kind, with the exception of the supplementary scheme referred to in Legislative Decree 252/2005).

The applicant is not required to submit a declaration of family financial circumstances (ICEF).

The application may be submitted:

• to the Provincial Agency for Social Assistance and Supplementary Pensions via certified email at apapi@pec.provincia.tn.it 
• to the welfare organisations.

If the applicant is a part-time worker and makes voluntary contributions to the INPS social security schemes, they may submit an application within 6 months of the date of payment of the last INPS payment slip for the relevant period.

• receipts for social security contributions and/or contribution statements;
• a valid identity document;
• any documentation proving that the eligibility criteria are met.