Factsheet for measure
IT-2020-21/996
–
Updated
– measures in Italy
Emergency income
Reddito di emergenza
Background information
Law Decree No. 34 of 19 May 2020 (art. 82) introduced an extraordinary income support measure, the Emergency income (Reddito di Emergenza, REM) to support households in economic difficulty caused by the crisis due to COVID-19, which are not beneficiaries of any other income support scheme. The scheme provides for two payments of an amount between €400 and €840 according to the composition of the household.
Content of measure
The Emergency Income introduced by Law Decree No. 34 is targeted at households in economic need as a consequence of the COVID-19 health crisis and which are not covered by any other subsidy.
The total amount of the emergency income ranges from a minimum of €400 to a maximum of €840 for two months (i.e. the total amount ranges between €800 and €1,680). The income support instrument has to be requested by the 31 July 2020.
In order to accede the emergency income, households need to satisfy the following requirements:
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Italian residence.
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Household income referred to the month of April 2020 lower than the amount of the benefit itself.
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Assets with reference to the year 2019 lower than a threshold of €10,000, increased by €5,000 for each component subsequent to the first and up to a maximum of €20,000 (the ceiling is increased by €5,000 in case of a household member with a serious disability or non-self-sufficiency).
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An ISEE value (indicator of the equivalent economic situation) of less than €15,000.
The emergency income is not compatible with the other forms of income support provided by the Government for the COVID-19 health emergency. It is not paid to pensioners and those who have an employment relationship with a gross salary higher than the economic benefit due. It is not paid to the beneficiaries of the citizenship income.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
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29 July 2021
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Law Decree No. 73 of 25 May 2021 finances four additional emergency income installments for 2021 for the months of June, July, August and September 2021. The total cost of this measure is estimated at €884.4 billion.
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22 March 2021
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Law Decree No. 41 of 22 March 2021 finances with a total of €1.5 billion three additional months of the Emergency Income (March, April and May). The Law Decree loosened access requirements: the maximum threshold for households residing in rented homes was increased (by one twelfth of the annual value of the rent), and the subsidy is extended to subjects who have finished between on 1 July 2020 and 28 February 2021, the Naspi and Discoll allowance.
To obtain the monthly payments of Emergency Income an application can be made to INPS, only electronically, and exclusively between 7 and 30 April.
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28 October 2020
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Law Decree No. 137 of 28 October 2020 further extended the emergency income under the following circumstances:
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Households which have already benefited of the extension of the emergency income set by Law Decree No. 104 of 14 August 2020 will benefit of the same amount for the months of November and December 2020;
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Households satisfying the requisites set in Law Decree No. 34 of 19 May 2020 and whose members did not receive any of the indemnities developed since March 2020.
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13 October 2020
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The emergency income (Reddito di Emergenza, REM), an extraordinary income support measure introduced by the Law Decree No. 34 of 19 May 2020 (art. 82) has been extended by the Law Decree No. 104 of 14 August 2020 (art. 23).
Households in economic difficulty caused by the crisis due to COVID-19, which are not beneficiaries of any other income support scheme, are entitled to apply by 15 October 2020 for one more monthly instalment of an amount between €400 and €840 according to the composition of the household.
In order to accede the new emergency income instalment, households need to satisfy all the following requirements:
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Household income referred to the month of May 2020 lower than the amount of the benefit itself.
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Household members must not be entitled to receive further maritime-work related allowances introduced by the Law Decree No. 104 of 14 August 2020 (art. 10 and 11).
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Italian residence.
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Assets with reference to the year 2019 lower than a threshold of €10,000, increased by €5,000 for each component subsequent to the first and up to a maximum of €20,000 (the ceiling is increased by € 5,000 in case of a household member with a serious disability or non-self-sufficiency).
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An ISEE value (indicator of the equivalent economic situation) of less than €15,000.
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Use of measure
As of 18 June 2020, a total of 387,363 applications for the Emergency Income were received by the National Social Security Institute (INPS).
As of 31 July 2020, the last available date for submitting the applications to the National Social Security Institute (INPS), 599,942 households had applied for the Emergency Income: 48% of these (290,072) were granted the benefit for at least one month, 51% (303,817) were rejected, while the remaining 1% of the applications (6,053) has still to be processed. Overall around 698,000 people benefited from the Emergency Income. More in detail, the following number of households received the benefit:
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85,223 households in May 2020;
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218,008 households in June 2020;
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202,010 households in July 2020;
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65,860 households in August 2020.
The average monthly sum granted by the National Social Security Institute (INPS) corresponded to €557.70. The overall expenditure for the Emergency Income amounted to:
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€50,266,920 for the month of May 2020;
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€124,088,280 for the month of June 2020;
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€109,968,480 for the month of July 2020;
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€34,177,080 for the month of August 2020.
The geographical distribution of the benefit recipients shows a greater concentration in the Southern regions and the islands (46%), followed by the Northern regions (34%) and finally those in the centre of Italy (20%).
Target groups
Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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National government
Social insurance
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National funds
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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No involvement
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No involvement
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Form
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Not applicable
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Not applicable
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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No involvement
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Main level of involvement: N/A
Involvement
Social partners were not involved in designing, implementing or monitoring the measure.
Views and reactions
Trade unions were broadly supportive of the measure, while Confindustria criticised it, sustaining that it does not help recovery.
Sources
