Single check in March, the amount increases: who earns and who doesn’t

The single check enters the new regime. After the increases in February, the adjustments and increases recently decided by the government will arrive in March. However, the effects will not be the same for everyone. That’s who will take the most.

The news on widowed nucleuses
The most recent of the news concerns widows and widowers. “Taking into account the greater fragility of widowed households, with the conforming opinion of the Ministry of Labor – reads a message from INPS a few days ago – we inform that the bonus for the second income recipient is automatically paid to widowed households for the deaths of the working parent which occurred in the relevant year in which the allowance is recognized. In order to benefit from the increase, no further fulfillment is foreseen for the users concerned. Therefore, for grant applications submitted after 1 January 2022, the increase in question will be applied until February 2023 and will cease to be paid starting from the grant installment – if due – for the month of March 2023. This practice – concludes the message – will also be applied for future years of grant disbursement; therefore, the death of the working parent during the year of use of the Allowance does not entail the loss of the bonus until the end of the year of the benefit itself». In practice, for this type of household the increase will be the same as that provided for households in which both parents work: the regulation on the single allowance establishes that in the event that both parents have income from work, an increase is envisaged for each minor child equal to 30 euros per month. The amount is due in full for an ISEE equal to or less than 15,000 euros. For higher ISEE levels it is gradually reduced until it is canceled at an ISEE equal to 40,000 euros. For ISEE levels above 40,000 euros, the increase is not due.

Households with at least four children
Then there is the novelty introduced with the 2023 Budget Law and which concerns families with at least four children. For these households, the government has decided to bring the flat-rate increase in checks from 100 to 150. However, the increase started late in February and therefore the hypothesis is that the January lump sum should be paid together with the next cheque, namely that of this month of March.

Children less than one year old
Increases have also been implemented since January 2023, again introduced with the Budget law, which provide for a 50% increase in the basic fee alone (net of increases therefore) for children aged up to 1 year, or 3 years in the case there are at least 3 children in the nucleus and the ISEE is less than 40,000 euros. Also in this case, the adjustment referring to the month of January will arrive in March.

Inflation
Then there is another increase on the way, which is linked to the revaluation of checks for inflation adjustment. Also in this case the payment for the month of January did not include this revaluation and the adjustment will arrive in March. The revaluation was set at 8.1%, defined in agreement with the Ministry of Finance in line with the average annual variation of the national index of consumer prices for families of workers and employees (Foi) of Istat, but it will not only concern the amount to be paid with the single check but also the ISEE on which the checks are calculated. This means that the various thresholds, which modulate the various amounts, have been increased by 8.1%. To give some examples, regarding the revaluation of the cheque: the minimum quota rises to 54.1 euros from the previous one of 50 euros, while the maximum one is now 189.2 euros, whereas before it was 175 euros.

Subsequent children to the second and disabled
As a result of the revaluation, the amount of increases already envisaged by the legislation also changes, such as those for disabled children and for children subsequent to the second. The Budget law stabilized the increases made during 2022 in favor of adult disabled children and confirmed the increase in any transitional increase for households with disabled children.

Basic income
In March, the sums due by right but not yet paid to those who receive the Citizenship Income will also arrive. The INPS had established an automatism in assigning the single allowance to families with Rdc, on the basis of the information already in the institution’s possession. Only later, however, was the Rdc/Com/Au model activated, which made it possible to specify certain information (such as the age of the children) for a precise calculation of the amount of the allowance. The procedure has been made available since last June. This means that in March there will be an adjustment on those checks which from March to May 2022 had not been adjusted.

Lower check risk
However, it must be said that in March there will also be a recalculation of the single check based on the ISEE, an operation that could lead to an increase as well as a reduction. However, in most cases, INPS has already recalculated the February monthly payment, obviously in cases where ISEE 2023 was already included in the system. Therefore, only a small number of families will be affected by this possible cut.