The Italian Social Security and Family Benefits

​​​Do you want to move to Italy to work but you don't know about Social Security?
We will try to clarify it with  this article and the with  next ones on the big world of Italian social security.
This first article speaks about family

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The Italian social security system is funded by contributions paid by employed workers, employers, independent workers and self-employed workers and through general taxation.
The National Health Service (SSN) is funded by all residents of Italy through taxes, as well as through co-payment of the cost of medicines and health services through payment of what is referred to as the 'ticket', and managed by the individual regions through the Local Health Authorities (LHA).
If you belong to any of the categories of workers indicated below, you are insured by the National Institute for Social Security (INPS):

• employees of the private sector signed up to the Employed Workers Pension Fund (FLPD), including agricultural workers, cooperative members and apprentices;
• employees in the public sector;
• independent workers (merchants, artisans, sharecroppers, farmers and tenant farmers) registered with the relevant special schemes;
• Self-employed workers (coordinated and continuous workers, occasional workers, door-to-door salespeople, professionals without a pension, occasional independent workers) registered with a separate scheme.

THE LIST OF FAMILY BENEFITS IN ITALY

In Italy there are different kinds of family benefits:

• Household Allowance (Assegno per il Nucleo Familiare), which guarantees support for the families of employed workers and those retired from employed work, whose household is made up of multiple people and who have an income lower than that established annually by law. The amount of ANF is determined based on the household income and the number and type of family members. The employer provides it on behalf of the INPS.
• Family Allowance for pensioners (Assegni familiari ai pensionati), which guarantees income support for the household of pensioners under the Independent Worker Schemes (artisans, merchants, farmers, tenant farmers and sharecroppers).
• Local Authority Allowance (Assegno dei comuni) for low income household and with at least three minor children, granted exclusively through the Local Authority and paid by the INPS.
• Birth Allowance (Bonus bebè or assegno di natalità): a means tested benefit for low income family households.
• Kindergarten Voucher (Bonus asilo nido).

WHEN CAN YOU CLAIM?
It depends on certain income conditions, you are entitled to ANF if you belong to one of these categories: employees of Italian companies operating in Italy or abroad; pension holders or recipients of cash benefits deriving from employed work.
Your household may consist of:

• your spouse or your partner in a civil union, unless legally and effectively separated;
• your children and those equivalent to such under 18, up to the age of 26 if university students or without limit if disabled;
• your grandchildren, under 18, if you are a direct ascendant (grandfather or grandmother).

Suppose you are retired under the self-employed Worker Scheme. In that case, the Family Allowance for pensioners to support your low-income household is paid directly by the INPS monthly to your family.
If your household is on a low income and is made up of at least three minor children whose mother does not work, you can claim the Local Authority Allowance granted by your Local Authority of residence.
Birth Allowances is granted for 1 year after childbirth.
Kindergarten Voucher: not granted to mothers who are exempted from the payment of public nursery services; other forms of home care assistance are provided in the case of disabled children.
WHAT CONDITIONS DO YOU NEED TO MEET?
Income gross of tax or deductions at source, by way of tax or replacement tax, must also be considered.
You are entitled to the allowance if your household income comes from employment income or income deemed as such, by at least 70% and is lower than the limits established annually by Law and vary according to family unit composition.
If you are a subordinate worker, at least 70% of this income must come from paid
employment. If you are a para-subordinate worker with a fixed-term contract registered under a separate INPS scheme, at least 70% of this income must be made up of employment income.
ANF benefit recipients:
• you, as a claimant;
• your spouse or partner in a civil union, unless legally separated or divorced;
• your children (including adoptive children), resident either in Italy or another EU
country or a third country with whom a social security or reciprocity agreement has
been signed;
• your grandchildren (up to the age of 18 and over 18, if disabled).
Family Allowance for pensioners for retired persons as long as the person's entitlement to a pension subsists and, therefore, as long as the access requirements continue to be met. The household income limits to be taken into account are re-assessed each year due to planned inflation.
For Local Authority income support, the income limits to be taken into consideration are re-assessed each year due to planned inflation, rounding to the nearest euro cent.
Birth Allowance is granted until the newborn child is one year old or for one year as of the date of adoption
Kindergarten Voucher, means-tested and granted upon submission of the household ISEE.
What are you entitled to, and how can you claim?
Concerning amounts and forms to fill you can find more details on the INPS Website or Patronato and Caf
See below for links to European Commission publications on social security coordination: • http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/family/children/benefits/index_en.htm. 
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