Pensions: tighter restrictions in 2025: fewer people retiring and lower new pension payments, particularly for women

In total, expenditure on institutional services in 2025 amounts to 425.613 billion, an increase of 8.205 billion compared with 2024 (417.408 billion) and an increase of 65.770 billion compared with 2021 (359.843 billion). However, the composition of expenditure has changed, with an increase in welfare and social benefits paid out, rising from 583,628 in 2022 to 650,803 in 2025.

We are witnessing a gradual strengthening of policies to support parenthood. In 2025, the Universal Child Allowance covered a total of 6,328,554 households (compared with the 2,139,707 households covered by the Family Allowance in 2022), with expenditure rising from €6.6 billion in 2021 to €20.3 billion in 2025, although this also includes funds that were previously provided as tax deductions for dependent family members.

Income support has increased by 855 million (+4.5%) compared with 2024, driven mainly by unemployment benefits (+702 million); the total amount allocated to schemes supporting those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own rose from 11.390 billion in 2021 to 14.568 billion in 2025.

Social inclusion policies are set to total 36.411 billion in 2025, driven by an increase in payments for the Inclusion Allowance (5.612 billion in 2025, an increase of 1.171 billion compared with 2024); however, this figure remains far below the 8.871 billion paid out under the Citizenship Income scheme in 2021. Support for training and employment is also on the rise, increasing from 260 million in 2024 to 439 million in 2025. As for beneficiaries, however, 723,778 applications for the Inclusion Allowance were approved during 2025, a decrease compared with the previous year, and 119,476 applications for Training and Employment Support were approved; however, these figures are lower overall than the number of Citizenship Income and Citizenship Pension payments made in 2022, which totalled 1,039,700.

Civil disability benefits and social allowances and pensions have increased compared with the 2021 figures, by 1.728 billion (+34.53%) and 4.687 billion (+24.76%) respectively. Looking at the figures as a whole

In total, the Institute’s social security receivables on the balance sheet in 2025 amount to 125.767 billion euros, compared with 119.127 billion euros the previous year, of which 79.4% are considered irrecoverable. This reduction is mainly attributable to legislative measures to write off tax arrears. To partially cover these bad debts, the Institute has set up a provision fund amounting to €99,873 million, an increase of 5,387 million compared with the previous year.

Data on the quality of the INPS’s service, specifically regarding waiting times for the payment of key benefits, show a ‘generally positive’ trend, according to the CIV. The average time taken to complete the medical and administrative procedures for assessing civil disability is ‘essentially stable, at very high levels’, and is set to fall to 140 days in 2025, an improvement on previous years: 141 days in 2024 (144 in 2023 and 142 in 2022). In particular, the administrative phase in 2025 will take 15 days, an improvement on previous years: 16 days in 2024, 21 days in 2023 and 22 days in 2022. The time taken for the healthcare phase in 2025 is 125 days, a figure in line with 2024 but slightly higher than in 2023 (123 days) and 2022 (120 days).

In most cases, the processing times for both the public and private pension schemes do not exceed 30 days. In particular, approximately 78.9 per cent of all IVS pensions under the private scheme are processed within 30 days, whilst approximately 84.8 per cent of all old-age and early retirement pensions under the public scheme are paid out within 30 days.

As regards enforcement, the number of inspections over the two-year period fell from 9,701 to 8,311, against a reduction in the number of inspectors from 761 to 736, whilst the amount of tax evasion detected rose from 761 to 816 million euros. There was also a reduction in the number of fines imposed on jointly and severally liable clients (from 1,529 to 1,203), accompanied by an increase in the amounts associated with them (from 156 million to 189 million euros). In the area of documentary monitoring, the number of checks over the two-year period fell from 190,000 to 169,000.

The Civ emphasises that the INPS will be able to recruit 355 inspectors who have not yet been appointed, a development which ‘certainly represents an initial response to a serious emergency, but it remains necessary to carry out a comprehensive review of the system and decide which path to take going forward, always with a view to collaboration between the authorities, whilst overcoming this phase of uncertainty which is hampering the Institute’s efforts to combat contribution evasion and undeclared work – efforts which it should, in fact, be carrying out with ever-greater effectiveness’. The number of inspections over the two-year period fell from 190,000 to 169,000. In 2025, INPS saw a further reduction in its workforce, falling to 24,521 compared with 25,344 the previous year and 26,687 in 2023.

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