Background information

In accordance with art. 118 of legislative decree n.388/2000, interprofessional paritarian funds for continuous training are bodies of an associative nature promoted by the social partners at national level through specific interconfederal agreements that aim at supporting training activities of employed people. Although these institutions have a longer tradition in the construction and the craft sectors, nowadays they cover most of the sectors according to the relevant collective bargaining agreements.

Content of measure

Inter professional paritarian funds are established in two different steps:

• a collective agreement signed by social partners, which sets out the purpose of the body and defines its statute and internal regulations;
• the authorisation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies to start the operations.

Inter professional paritarian funds are funded by means of a 0.30% social security contribution (the so called 'contributo obbligatorio per la disoccupazione involontaria') on the employee wage bill, which employers can decide to devolve to an interprofessional paritarian fund or to the National Institute of Social Security (INPS). Employers can enroll in any authorised vocational training paritarian institution, regardless of their specific economic sector. Inter professional paritarian funds finance company, sectoral and territorial training plans, which the single or associated companies decide to implement for their employees. In addition, they can also fund individual training plans, as well as other additional training initiatives. Since 2011 (Law n.148/2011) inter professional paritarian funds may also involve apprentices and workers employed with parasubordinate contracts.

The National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (ANPAL) is in charge of monitoring these bodies and coordinating them as part of the network of employment services, within the overall objective of supporting workers’ placement and the matching of employers’ skills needs. Examples: Fondimpresa, Fondirigenti, Fondo Artigianato Professioni, For.Te, Fondo Banche Assicurazioni, Fon.Coop.

Use of measure

According to ANPAL (2018), in October 2017 there were 19 active interprofessional paritarian funds (16 at sectoral level and three targeting managers), covering 1,343,050 companies and more than 10.6 million workers.

In 2016, the overall amount of resources managed by interprofessional paritarian funds was almost €607 million, 66% of which earmarked for the three largest institutions. In the same year, 29,088 training plans were authorised, involving 68,415 companies and 1,560,396 workers. Most of the training activities were implemented by the beneficiary companies themselves, targeted at permanent employees, and aimed at updating their skills or at arranging compulsory training courses (such as those regarding health and safety at the workplace).

According to data from the OECD's 2019 report and ANPAL's Continuing Training Report, the interprofessional funds represent over 900,000 companies and 10 million workers, manage around €659 million per year and allocate around €357 million annually through public notices. Whereas in 2019 the percentage of distance learning in the total training financed by the parity funds stood at an average of 6.5%, in 2020 (following the inevitable impact of the Covid-19 emergency), the percentage stands at 38.5%, with an average increase between 2019 and 2020 of 32%.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Employers' organisations Local / regional government	Companies Employer

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Unknown	Unknown

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

The social partners are called upon to define and make concrete use of professional standards as criteria for the preparation and verification of training courses aimed at passing on a trade.

Views and reactions

Social partners have expressed their stance concerning the regulation of interprofessional funds in the framework of the discussion on act no. 150/2015 (Jobs Act – labour market reform, hereinafter ‘JALM’), which reforms active labour market policies. Generally speaking, they asked for stricter authorisation criteria, especially in terms of representativeness of founding social partners, and complained that the coordination powers attributed to ANPAL may impose targets other than those set by social partners, infringing upon the autonomy of interprofessional funds.

Sources

• 10 July 2014: Interprofessional funds: role and evolution - Executive summary (www.fondoforte.it)
• 01 January 2018: ANPAL (2018), XVIII Rapporto sulla formazione continua. Annualità 2016-2017, Rome. (www.anpal.gov.it)
• 24 November 2021: Rapporto 2021 - Digital Learning e Fondi Paritetici Interprofessionali per la Formazione Continua (fondolavoro.it)