two amounts, it becomes Active inclusion measure – Corriere.it

The texts drafted by the Ministry of Labor have been being evaluated by the Treasury for a few days because to do everything, including the enlargement of the number of female workers admitted to the women’s option and the strengthening of active policies,almost a billion euros would be needed. But time is running out and within a couple of weeks the Minister of Labour, Elvira Calderonewill bring to the council of ministers at least the decree law to reform the Basic income.

The minister herself reassured the social partners, who are following the dossier with some concern, that the subsidy for the poor will not disappear, even for the so-called employable, i.e. those who could work, but will be replaced by an instrument which she defined Active inclusion measurement. The new acronym should therefore be Mia.

Off in September

The measure will start as early as this year, after the seven-month extension granted to the beneficiaries of the Citizenship Income with the 2023 Budget Law. Mia should therefore be able to be requested from August or more realistically from 1 September.

The potential beneficiaries, in line with what was decided with the manoeuvre, will be divided into two audiences: poor families without employable people and families with employable people. The first are those where there is at least one minor or an elderly person over 60 or a disabled person. The second are those where these situations do not exist but at least one subject between 18 and 60 years of age. Basically, those who can be employed (estimated at 300,000 single-family households plus 100,000 households with several members), who benefit from the current Income for a maximum of 7 months in 2023 and in any case no later than 31 December, once the benefit has expired, will be able to apply for Mine: however, for them, it will be less generous and will have a shorter duration than the Basic Income and also Mine, which families without employable people will benefit from.

Employable and not

However, even for these nuclei, made up of poor people without the possibility of entering the labor market, the reform provides for a tightening. These families will continue to receive a subsidy, Mia precisely, the basic amount of which (for a single) should remain at 500 euros per monthas in income. However, there is still discussion about the additional fee in the event that the beneficiary has to pay the rent. Income provides up to 280 euros per month. With Mine this quota could be lightened and modulated on the number of the family nucleus. But the greatest squeeze will hit the employable. Here the hypothesis that has the most chances is the one that sees the basic allowance reduced to 375 euros. Furthermore, while for the poor tout court the Mia will last, in the first instance, up to 18 months (like the Income now), for the employable no more than a year.

The decalage

To complete the squeeze, the government’s proposal should also recover the idea of ​​the decalage put forward a few months ago by the Undersecretary for Labour, Claudio Durigon. In essence, the new subsidy cannot be asked for repeatedly, like the Income, obtaining another 18 months of assistance each time. For unemployed families, from the second application onwards, the maximum duration of the Mia will be reduced to 12 months. As is the case now, at least a month will have to pass before asking for the benefit again.

For households with employable people, on the other hand, the Mia will expire after a maximum of one year for the first time and after six months the second and any third application for subsidy can only be presented after a break of a year and a half. In short, a path to exhaustion to push as much as possible those interested in looking for a job.

The Isee roof

According to what transpires from the technicians of the ministries who are following the dossier more closely, the requirements of Isee to obtain the subsidy should undergo a strong tightening compared to those for the Income.

The the ceiling for entitlement to the new active inclusion measure should in fact drop from the current 9,360 euros to 7,200 euros. A cut of more than 2,000 euros in the household wealth indicator which risks killing a significant portion of the audience of potential beneficiaries, probably a third. On the positive side, with respect to Income, the so-called equivalence scale will instead be corrected, the one which increases the amount of the subsidy based on the number of family members, to improve assistance to large families.

The correction of the residence requirement in Italy also seems certain, which should drop from 10 to 5 years, in order not to incur the censures of the Consulta and of Brussels. A correction, this, which, unlike the cut of the Isee roof, will increase the audience of potential beneficiaries, but only slightly.

Employment agencies

Once the application has been submitted electronically, the service will be recognized only after cross-checks have been made on the possession of the requisites (income, assets, vehicles, etc.) and unemployable households will be directed to the Municipalities for social inclusion paths while the others will be sent to employment centers where, as a condition for obtaining Mia, they will have to sign a personalized agreement.

For those who can be employed, the reform will involve private employment agencies as well as public employment centres. Who will collect an incentive for each employable person for whom they will be able to obtain a contract, even temporary or part-time.

Online platform

To improve the matching of labor supply and demand will be created a national platform under the direction of the Ministry of Labor where employable people will have to register and where they can receive suitable job offers. Just refuse one to forfeit the performance.

The offer will be considered congruous if it is in line with the profile of the employable person and if the place of work will be within the province of residence of the beneficiary or in the neighboring provinces (a formulation, explain the technicians, necessary because sometimes Municipalities of provinces other than your own are closer to the Municipality of residence). Offers of short contracts will also be considered suitable, provided they are longer than 30 days.

You can work

To discourage the phenomenon of subsidy recipients who work illegally at the same time, the rule introduced with the latest budget law, which allows Income Holders to combine the allowance with income from seasonal or intermittent work of up to 3,000 euros per year, will be extended to all types of employment. And if this threshold is exceeded, but due to a fixed-term contract with a shorter duration than Mine, the benefit will be suspended for the duration of the employment relationship and reactivated later.

More controls

The reform will strengthen all the rules on controls, on the forfeiture of the benefit for those who do not respect the commitments envisaged by the agreements for employment or social inclusion (the latter, which will then be the majority, entrusted to the Municipalities), and those on crimes for those who make false statements or work illegally while taking the subsidy.

These are very important rules, to avoid wasting resources. It is no coincidence that after the strengthening of controls decided under the Draghi and Meloni governments, there has been a decline in income earners and applications. In January 2023, there were 1,160,714 families benefiting from income and the citizen’s pension (for an average amount of 562 euros per month): around 200,000 fewer than in the same month in 2022. And 111,000 applications against 88,000 in January of a year ago.

The savings

With the reform of income and the citizen’s pension (the latter effectively absorbed into Mia) the government would aim to save a total of at least 2-3 billion a year compared to the 7-8 spent annually on Income.

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