Psychologist bonus, implementation decree missing: click day postponed

No trace of the click day for the psychologist bonus: the deadline for submitting applications was supposed to start today but there is no trace of it on the Inps website. In fact, the indispensable implementing decree is missing.

More than 400,000 applications for the psychologist bonus are also expected for 2025, but the funds allocated at the moment can only cover the requests of 6300 people, just over one in 100. The scheduled date for sending the applications to the Inps was 25 July, as reported by some official websites (such as that of the Order of Psychologists of Lombardy): but as has already happened in the past, this year too there are delays in the start of the so-called 'click day'. The postponement is a direct consequence of the failure to finalise the implementing decree.

And mobilisation is underway to ensure that the support, when it arrives, covers all those entitled to it and not just a percentage of less than 2%, as is envisaged. "This is why you should sign the Right to be well bill", is the appeal by Pubblica, a non-profit third sector organisation that is coordinating the signature collection campaign to bring to Parliament a popular initiative bill to establish a national public psychology service in Italy: that is, to guarantee a free psychologist to all and sundry and thus make psychological wellbeing a guaranteed right. Public invites everyone to sign through the web portal www.dirittoastarebene.it. 50,000 signatures are needed.

In the meantime, while waiting for the official 'click day' date, here is how to apply for the Psychologist Bonus 2025, which guarantees up to EUR 1,500 a year: you need a spid and an Isee (although the latter can be self-certified). One connects on the Inps portal and does not need any kind of prescription: one only has to be an Italian citizen with an Isee of less than 50,000 euro and of age. But an adult in charge can also apply for minors. After that, a ranking will be drawn up based precisely on the Isee

Introduced by the Draghi government in 2022 to counter the psychological effects caused by the pandemic, the bonus (50 euro per session that can be claimed by those with an Isee of less than 50,000 euro) was made structural. But there has been no shortage of problems in getting it up and running, leading to delays in collecting it from citizens, who then - also given the limited funds - were excluded in the vast majority of cases. Last year, in fact, citizens sent 400,505 requests but only 3,325 received the contribution, 0.8 per cent of the total against only 5 million allocated. In order to use the additional 5 million available for 2023, a new decree of the Ministry of Health was needed, which has since arrived. Now the new funds are to be spent: 12 million for last year and then 9.5 million for this year.