The indicator

Isee, from first home to single allowance: here's what may change

A new meeting of the interministerial table is scheduled for Wednesday 20 March

16 March 2024

Forum Associazioni Familiari: "Sostenere le famiglie conviene"

3' min read

Key points

Government seeks solution on single cheque
Wednesday 20 new meeting of the table opened in recent weeks
The node of change-related costs
Bellucci: correct error on single cheque denying benefits

3' min read

The Isee, i.e. the 'Indicator of the Equivalent Economic Situation', is used to assess and compare the economic situation of households wishing to apply for subsidised social benefits. Access to these benefits, in fact, as to public utility services at subsidised conditions (landline telephone, electricity, gas, etc.) is linked to the possession of certain subjective requirements and to the family's economic situation. Hence, the reform of this indicator on which the government is reasoning assumes the contours of a strategic operation.

The government seeks a solution on the single cheque

No final choices have yet been made in this regard, but the idea is to work on the revision of the Isee so that incomes such as the single and universal allowance for dependent children, but also the first house with a higher deductible than the current one, are excluded from the indicator.

"Among the various hypotheses in the field," explained Deputy Labour Minister Maria Teresa Bellucci, "there is also the assessment of how to intervene on the first home, considered an essential asset for the stability of every family. Priority and indispensable will be to verify the impact of each change with respect to the vast Isee discipline for the imposing repercussion on allowances, subsidised social benefits and bonuses".

Wednesday 20 new meeting of the table opened in recent weeks

A new meeting of the table is scheduled for Wednesday 20, convened by the Minister for the Family, Eugenia Roccella. It is an inter-ministerial table, involving the Ministries of Labour, Economy and Family and for Disabilities. According to what technicians close to the dossier explain, at the round table opened in recent weeks, the issues raised by the Family Forum were reviewed, starting from the weight that the single allowance has in raising the indicator, thus limiting the possibility of the nucleus in accessing social benefits.

The knot of costs associated with modifications

The main issue, however, they explain, is the cost of any changes. If the weight of the first house is reduced (now the deductible below which it is not considered is an Imu value of 52,500 euro, increased by 2,500 euro for each child after the second) and the payments received with the single allowance are excluded, the number of families entitled to benefits such as the right to be in the first bracket for nursery school will grow. Another issue is that of the sums received in the current account in the form of arrears (e.g. for disability), which are currently included in the amount of the account but which families feel should be excluded, as is the case with the disability pension.

Bellucci: correct error on single cheque denying benefits

A step in the process of changing the indicator should therefore affect the single, universal child allowance. In January, more than 5.9 million families received the support, for more than 9.4 million children. Looking at the Isee bands, the largest benefit was granted to families falling in the first band, i.e. up to 17,090.61. More than half of the children (4,959,175) fell into this bracket for an average of 218 euro per child. For the next bracket (from 17,090.62 to 22,787.48 euro), the benefit was paid for 1,019,033 children with an average of 199 euro per child. Families that did not present the Isee received the allowance for 1,750,704 children and an average amount of 56 euros per child in the month.

"The government,' explained the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policies, Maria Teresa Bellucci, in response to the question posed by Senator Graziano Delrio (PD), 'is aware that the regulations establishing the universal and universal allowance, outlined by the Draghi government, have a negative impact with respect to the Isee calculation that is causing numerous problems for families, for the purposes of access to subsidised social benefits and for the calculation of the same. For this reason, we have initiated an inter-ministerial technical table. An in-depth study to identify those areas of critical intervention with respect to the calculation of the Isee, and at the same time to put forward possible solutions'. "As a first step," continued Bellucci, "we intervened to secure the disbursement of the single and universal cheque for the year 2024 with respect to the inherited criticality; in fact the Inps will subtract from the Isee value how much was received for the same cheque during 2022. This careful action by the executive,' Bellucci concluded, 'is in line with the various initiatives put in place to promote and support the birth rate, such as the budget law, which for 2024, thanks to the commitment of the entire government, has extended the usability of the cheque, in particular for large families, for those with a disabled child and, in certain cases, for families with children under three years of age. The government is therefore looking for a way to remove the burden of the single child allowance from the Isee. For now, however, there is no solution.