Service Vouchers to support work-life balance – 2025–2027 period

Service Vouchers, including Company Service Vouchers, are expenditure vouchers issued to individual recipients to facilitate thereconciliationof family care responsibilities with work commitments (or training/reskilling aimed at actively seeking employment).

They are designed topromote women’s participation in the labour marketand also provide specific support for low-income families or those in particularly vulnerable circumstances.

The voucherscover part of the costs of accessing educational, care and childcare services for children or foster children agedbetween 3 months and 14 years (or under 18 years of age in the case of children with disabilities – certified under Law No. 104/92 – or learning difficulties or situations of particular hardship, as attested by competent staff).

These services must be provided byorganisations included ona specific list.

SERVICES AVAILABLE

 A) Educational, care and childcare services for children aged 3 months to 3 years (early years services)[link to further information];

   A1) Childminding services (babysitters) for children aged 3 months to 36 months;

   A2) Services provided by company-run nurseries;

B) Educational, care and childcare services for children aged 3–6 years;

C) Educational, care and childcare services for children aged 6–14 years (under 18 in the case of children with disabilities, learning difficulties or situations of particular hardship, as certified by competent staff)[link to further information].

The amount of work-life balance support provided is linked to the applicant’s total working hours during the relevant period, which may be increased by up to 10% at the applicant’s request, and covers part of the costs of the services requested, provided the applicant is regularly at work or attending a training course or work placement aimed at actively seeking employment. In any case, the maximum number of hours eligible per week is 44, including any 10% increase.

The Service Vouchers are funded by resources from the Autonomous Province of Trento’s ESF+ Programme 2021–2027, with co-financing from the European Union – European Social Fund Plus (40%), the Italian State (42%) and the Autonomous Province of Trento (18%). Given the significance of this scheme, the Service Vouchers have been identified in the Programme as an operation of strategic importance.

Each Service Voucher may have a face value of between a maximum of 1,500 euros and a minimum of 900 euros. During each calendar year, applicants may acquire a maximum of 12 Vouchers. For the purposes of determining the maximum amount that can be allocated to each applicant for a Service Voucher, account will be taken of the number of weeks of service that can be provided during the calendar year, in relation to the period in which the application for the Service Voucher and the related ‘Service Provision Projects’ (P.E.S.) attached to the application.

All services must be provided in a manner that complements the services provided by institutional bodiesoperating in the same capacity within the province, namely outside standard opening hours (including extended hours – in terms of earlier or later start times – if normally provided for) and/or the days guaranteed by the annual calendars of crèches, nursery schools and public or affiliated educational institutions within the province, subject to specific and proven circumstances.

Only one application for a Service Voucher may be submitted for the same month of allocation. The P.E.S. codes for all relevant services, including those for different children, must be confirmed online in a single Service Voucher application. 

Only services provided after the Service Voucher has been allocated via the ranking list and activated by the Service Provider are covered by the Service Voucher. The Service Voucher is not valid retroactively from the date of issue. It is not possible to activate a new Voucher unless at least 70 per cent of the value of the previously granted Voucher has been used.

Service Vouchers may be claimed by female workers, or – in the case of single-parent households – by male workers:

• who are in employment (including ‘atypical’ forms of employment as provided for by law) or who are self-employed in a professional or entrepreneurial capacity;
• who are starting or resuming employment (including ‘atypical’ forms of employment as provided for by law) or self-employed professional or entrepreneurial activities (in which case the voucher may only be used once work has commenced);
• who have been suspended from work under ordinary redundancy pay schemes (excluding those due to weather events), extraordinary redundancy pay schemes (including under solidarity contracts) or, by way of derogation, are enrolled in training or reskilling programmes promoted or recognised by the Autonomous Province of Trento and aimed at actively seeking employment;
• unemployed and enrolled in training or reskilling programmes promoted or recognised by the Autonomous Province of Trento and aimed at actively seeking employment.

Company service vouchersmay be requested by female employees, or, in the case of single-parent households, by male employees:

• who are in an employment relationship (including ‘atypical’ forms provided for by law) or who carry out professional or entrepreneurial activities within the company or group of companies promoting the company crèche;
• who are in the process of being recruited under an employment contract (including ‘atypical’ forms provided for by law). In any case, the voucher may only be used once work has commenced at the company or group of companies sponsoring the company crèche;
• upon returning to work at the company or group of companies sponsoring the company crèche under an employment contract (including ‘atypical’ forms provided for by law); following maternity leave or periods of absence from work related to caring for family members. In any case, the Voucher may only be used once work has resumed.

All beneficiaries must also meet the followingrequirements:

1. residence in a municipality in the province of Trento or a place of work within the province;
2. the presence in their household of one or more minor children for whom they exercise parental responsibility, or children in foster care aged up to 14 (under 18 years of age in the case of children with disabilities – certified under Law No. 104/92 – or with learning difficulties or situations of particular hardship, as attested by competent personnel);
3. an income below the prescribed threshold, determined on the basis of the valid ICEF (Family Economic Status Indicator) specific to Service Vouchers;
4. compliance with the provisions of Decree-Law No. 73 of 7 June 2017, converted with amendments by Law No. 119 of 31 July 2017, containing “Urgent provisions concerning vaccination, infectious diseases and disputes relating to the administration of medicines” and the resolutions of the Provincial Executive No. 1021 of 23 June 2017 and No. 1462 of 8 September 2017, No. 1462, as amended, for services requested for children aged between 3 months and 6 years (including childcare services provided at company-run nurseries accessed via service vouchers);
5. not be receiving any other financial grants or direct and/or indirect support measures provided on the same basis by other public bodies;
6. where the applicant’s household comprises both parents, i.e. where, in addition to the applicant, the household also includes the parent of at least one of the children for whom the Service Voucher is being requested, that parent must be in employment or, if unemployed, enrolled in a training or retraining programme aimed at actively seeking employment.

1. You should contact a CAAF or a provincial public assistance and information centre to complete theICEF Application for Service Vouchers, in order to check whether your household is eligible to apply and to find out the maximum amount that can be funded by a single Service Voucher.
2. You should select the activities of interest for your children or foster children from those offered by the Service Providers includedin the relevant listand agree with them on one or moreService Provision Plans (P.E.S.), which set out the services booked, the total costs, the portion eligible for funding through the Service Voucher, and the remaining amount that the family must pay to the Service Provider. The Service Provision Plans (P.E.S.) are drawn up in digital form.
3. Once the P.E.S. documents are in place for all the relevant services for all the children involved, the Service Voucher is applied for as follows:

• complete the online application for the Service Voucher using the IT system made available online by the Province, which is accessible via authentication using the SPID digital identity system or the CIE;
• sign the application generated by the IT systemonline using an OTP (one-time password) via a unique code sent to the user’s mobile device;
• submit the applicationonline to the Province, complete with all the required attachments, by confirming it in the online system and uploading the attachments to the system.

 Guide to the online procedure for completing a Service Voucher application

Applications for a Service Voucher can be submitted at any time of the year. In order to be included in the monthly ranking list, applications for a Service Voucher must be submittedvia thededicatedmembers’ areaby the26th day of the month. Any applications that have not been processed will be considered in the next ranking list.

OBLIGATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF THE SERVICE VOUCHER 

1. COLLECTION OF THE ATTENDANCE REGISTER: the holder of the Service Voucher, or the Service Provider, or another authorised representative, must collect the Attendance Register from the Ad Personam Facility in the event of any system downtime in the IT management system that prevents the use of the electronic register
2. ACTIVATION OF THE VOUCHER: The holder must request the Provider to activate the Voucher – that is, to begin using the services provided by it –within 180 days of the date of issue. The duration of the service may not exceed twelve months from the date of activation. If the Service Voucher is not used or is only partially used within its validity period, it becomes unusable.
3. USE OF THE VOUCHER: the holder must use the Voucher with the Service Provider and in accordance with the procedures specified in the ‘Service Delivery Plan’ (P.E.S.) submitted at the time of applying for the Voucher.
4. During the provision of the service, the ‘Attendance Register’ must be completed as follows:

• a) for categories A) and B), a daily entry must be made in the electronic register via a digital signature or, in the event of any system downtime, a handwritten signature on the paper register by the Voucher holder or the other parent/guardian of the child or children using the service, or the adult brother or sister of the child or children using the service, or another adult delegated by the Voucher holder. The register must be signed every day on which the service is provided, at the time the child is collected following the conclusion of the service, ensuring that the date, as well as the times of the child’s arrival and collection, are correctly entered and/or verified, so as to certify that the service has been provided by the Service Provider. The Service Provider’s staff member must in turn sign in the designated field. Should the holder, or the persons indicated above, fulfil this obligation more than 60 minutes after the end of the day’s service, the Administration will impose a penalty of 50.00 euros (fifty/00) on the holder for each late daily signature. If, at the time of reporting, it transpires that the voucher holder, or the persons indicated above, has never completed the daily signature, the full cost of the daily service provided but not signed for shall be borne entirely by the voucher holder.

• b) for category C): confirmation must be provided within seven days of the end of each week of service (defined as Monday to Sunday) or, in any event, within seven days of receipt of the SMS requesting confirmation sent by the Ad Personam Multifunctional Territorial Facility, by the voucher holder alone, of the attendance records entered in the electronic register by the Service Provider, by logging into their personal account on the IT system and verifying the accuracy of the data entered. 

  Should the holder fulfil this obligation more than seven days after receiving the text message requesting confirmation sent by the Ad Personam Multifunctional Territorial Facility, the Administration shall impose a penalty of 50.00 euros (fifty/00) for each late weekly confirmation. Should it transpire at the time of reporting that the account holder has never confirmed the attendance records entered in the electronic register, the full cost of the weekly service provided but not confirmed shall be borne entirely by the account holder.

• In the case of residential services (i.e. involving overnight stays for the children using the service), for categories A) and B) the Voucher holder (or one of the persons indicated above) is required to sign the electronic register with a handwritten signature on the day the service begins and on the day it ends, within sixty minutes of the service’s conclusion; for category C), the services provided must instead be confirmed by the Voucher holder alone.

5. At the end of the service, the Service Voucher holder is required to validate the attendance records entered in the electronic register by the Service Provider by logging into their personal account on the IT system and verifying the accuracy of the data entered. Subsequently, the holder is required to complete an online declaration via the IT system regarding the childcare services received from the Service Provider, failing which they will be excluded from any future ranking list for the allocation of Service Vouchers in the 2021–2027 programme. This declaration must clearly state that the work-life balance services to be reported to the Provincial Administration are attributable to the Service Vouchers scheme. Any hours of service used during days or times when the Service Voucher was due to provide cover, but where circumstances arose that were not eligible for such cover, must be noted in the register so that they are excluded from the report to the Provincial Administration. Services provided on dates or at times that cannot be reported will remain entirely at the expense of the voucher holder.

The holder of the service voucher is required to pay a financial contributionbased on the child’s age, which amounts to at least:

• 2% of the total service fee eligible for children up to the age of 6 (categories A, A1, A2 and B)
• 5% of the total eligible cost of the service for children aged 6 and over (category C).