After us, 72 million allocated for severely disabled persons without family support

The resources dedicated toEntities of the Third Sector (ETS) are growing, also with a view to financing SMEs. Due to the high number of applications for access to the Fund for the financing of activities of general interest, carried out or promoted by entities registered in the Single National Register of the Third Sector (Runts), the government has decided to increase its resources for the current year. The decree on the Economy (Decree Law 95/2025) has in fact provided for an increase of 10 million for 2025 of the Fund, whose endowment will rise from 36.10 million to 46.10 million (paragraph 5, article 5). The resources earmarked for monitoring activities on Ets, carried out by national association networks and voluntary service centres, have also been increased: this is an extra 1.2 million per year for the three-year period 2026-2028 (Article 5, paragraph 6).

Even the Guarantee Fund for SMEs, in the special section dedicated to the entities of the Third Sector, undergoes an improvement: the Economy Decree allocates 10 million to this facility, whose operational discipline is established by Law 191/2023, to support its operation (Article 5, paragraph 7). The Fund's guarantee - it must be remembered - is granted within the limits of 5% of the Fund's annual financial endowment. Ets registered with the Runts and civilly recognised religious bodies can access it.

Additional resources for ETS initiatives have been made available by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, with the outline of the Act of Guidance of 7 August (and now being examined by the supervisory bodies), valid for the triennium 2025-2027. The funding consists of just over 141 million, which will be allocated according to general objectives, priority areas of intervention and regions.

The measure, provided for in Articles 72 and 73 of the Code of the Third Sector (Legislative Decree 117/2017), was adopted through an agreement State-Regions Conference and aims to promote, through the Fund for the financing of projects and activities of general interest in the Third Sector, the autonomousgrowth of the Ets in terms of both self-organising capacity and ability to increase their statutory activities of general interest so as to better respond to the needs of the context.

Yesterday, finally, the Minister of Labour, Marina Calderone, gave positive impetus to the 'economic counterpart' of the After Us law, signing the decree for the distribution of the resources of the Fund for assistance to persons with severe disabilities without family support (paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 3, Law 1/2016). The measure provides for the distribution among the regions of over 72 million for 2024 and takes into account the recommendation of the Court of Auditors to review the allocation (resolution 55/2022G). The new criteria, on an experimental basis for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026, allocate 80% of the available resources on the basis of the criteria already identified by the interministerial decree of 23 November 2016 and the remaining 20% on the basis of the share of people between the ages of 18 and 64 with severe disabilities who live in the family as children, alone or who are institutionalised, estimated on the most up-to-date data from Istat and Inps.