Pensions, under consideration extension of isopension after 2026 and extension of exit channels

The government is considering extending the duration of the 7-year isopension, currently guaranteed until 2026, beyond this year. In addition, an intervention is being studied to broaden the ways out of work: the hypothesis is to also allow workers covered by the retributive and mixed system (with contributions prior to 1996) to access retirement at the age of 71 with 5 years of contributions - an option currently reserved for 'pure contributors' -, provided, however, that they renounce the quotas calculated with the retributive method.

These are two novelties announced by the Minister of Labour, Marina Calderone, replying to two questions in the Chamber of Deputies. These are important novelties, if they see the light of day, considering that the early exit channels (Opzione Donna and Quota 103) were closed in the Budget Law 2026. Let us begin with the possible confirmation of the isopension, an institution (Article 4, paragraphs 1 to 7-ter of the Fornero Law) which, in order to encourage corporate reorganisation paths, allowed employers with more than 15 employees to plan, in agreement with trade unions, a system of accompanying the retirement of workers up to seven years from retirement fully supported by the employer itself.

The regulatory vehicle should be the conversion bill of the 1st May Decree, under examination by the Chamber of Deputies Labour Committee, through an amendment by the majority or directly by the government. After all, the draft of the decree provided for the extension for another three years, until 2029, of the possibility for workers to leave seven years earlier thanks to the isopension, a possibility that was not confirmed in the final text of the decree. Minister Calderone explained that 'technical evaluations' were underway, recalling that isopension is a widely used tool in redundancy management and generational turnover processes, especially in industrial sectors and in employment-intensive services. "The worker is accompanied to the first useful retirement date according to the rules in force," the minister emphasised, "maintaining income and contribution continuity until access to retirement.

However, in recent times cases have emerged of workers fully covered by the contributory system - with contributions from 1 January 1996 onwards - for whom there is a need to certify the attainment of the minimum amount required for access to early retirement or old age pensions (respectively for men and women without children at least three times the Social Allowance, and in the second case one time the Social Allowance). "The isopension is a very useful institution and the Ministry of Labour is committed to supporting its effectiveness and full functionality also through any regulatory and administrative updates that may be necessary, in order to facilitate access to workers who started paying contributions from 1 January 1996. In order to avoid situations of uncertainty, we have started a technical process with Inps aimed at constructing homogeneous and predictive certification criteria, based on the most up-to-date macroeconomic and actuarial projections'.

Another issue addressed by the minister concerns the differentiation of requirements for access to the old age pension. Workers with the first contribution credit starting from 1 January 1996, for whom the right to an old age pension is obtained, in addition to the same age and contribution requirements, also provided that the amount of the pension accrued is at least equal to the value of the social allowance year by year revalued. Alternatively, the 2011 reform envisaged that individuals without contributions before 1 January 1996 can access the old age pension upon reaching the age of 71, with at least five years of actual contributions, regardless of the value of the accrued pension allowance. Workers with at least one contribution placed before 1996 may qualify for an old age pension when they reach the age of 67 in 2026, subject to a minimum contribution requirement of 20 years (without the prerequisite of any minimum amount). The rationale is that the higher contribution requirement for workers under the earnings-related or mixed system is compensated by the provision of a lower age requirement (67) than for 'pure contributors', who can only access the pension without a threshold amount when they reach the age of 71.