Parents with a VAT registration number: up to 500 euros a month for childcare and nursery fees instead of parental leave

A grant of up to 500 euros a month to cover the cost of babysitting services or nursery fees, to be claimed in lieu of parental leave. This is the voucher introduced by the 2027–2029 Budget Bill, on a trial basis for three years, for self-employed parents: the self-employed registered with INPS – that is, craftspeople, traders and farmers – and those registered under the separate pension scheme.

The procedure is set out in Article 60. The voucher is applied for at the end of maternity or paternity leave and covers a maximum of three months, to be used within the following eleven months. It is an alternative to parental leave: those who opt for it forgo paid leave from work for that period.

The funds may be used for babysitting services or for accredited public or private early-years education services, such as nurseries and pre-school groups. If both parents are self-employed, only one of them is entitled to the allowance – which is not taken into account for ISEE purposes when calculating the universal child allowance.

Excluded are employees in both the public and private sectors, as well as professionals registered with private pension schemes, such as lawyers, accountants and engineers. The scheme does, however, cover the entire ‘separate pension scheme’, which includes not only VAT-registered individuals without pension fund membership but also contract workers, PhD students and research fellows: the implementing decree will clarify whether they too will be eligible.

Resources are limited: 15 million per year for 2027, 2028 and 2029. Eligibility criteria, rules on how the funds are to be used and procedures for complying with the spending cap will be set out in a decree issued by the Minister for Family Affairs, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.