The early retirement foreseen in the Manoeuvre will have its effects in the long run

A push to allocate more Tfr to pension funds. This would be the main intention of the novelties on the subject of early retirement contributions, contained in the Budget Law now on the home stretch, with the Senate's approval expected today.

What changes? Until now the requirements for the normal old age pension are set at 67 years of age for all workers, with at least 20 years of contributions. For workers who are fully covered by the contributory system, i.e. all those who have started paying contributions since 1 January 1996, it is possible to bring forward the date of retirement to 64 years of age and still with 20 years of contributions, provided, however, that they collect a social security income of at least three times the social allowance, which in 2025 will amount to EUR 538.68 for 13 monthly payments. In other words, a monthly social security income of at least EUR 1,616.04 gross would have to be received in order to be able to retire early.

In the future, with the changes in the manoeuvre, workers will be able to add income from any pension funds to their contributory pension to reach this minimum threshold. If one voluntarily decides to take advantage of this opportunity, the requirement rises from 20 to 25 years of contributions in 2025, and to 30 years from 2030. In other words, one will be able to retire at the age of 64, but will have to have accumulated 10 more years of contributions than what is needed today. There is also an upward limit: all workers who receive a social security income of more than 5 times the minimum allowance between the ages of 64 and 67 are excluded from early retirement.

To date, the number of workers who will be able to benefit from the changes envisaged in the manoeuvre is extremely limited. The age of those who started working after 1996, the low percentage of membership of pension funds in Italy, and the average level of wages mean that, in 2025, only a hundred or so workers will be able to benefit from the contributory early retirement pension according to the above requirements. This figure is highlighted by the illustrative report accompanying the draft Budget Law 2025-2027, which also shows how, over the next decade, there could gradually be around 600 interested parties per year, with an average advance of one year in the effective retirement age.

According to Paolo Pellegrini, deputy director general of Mefop, a company for the development of the pension fund market, the manoeuvre looks to the long term: 'For once,' he says, 'we are talking about a reform that does not affect those who will retire in a year or two. The fact that workers are to be fully covered by the contributory system means that the new provisions will mainly affect those who are now 40-50 years old, encouraging them to allocate their severance pay to complementary forms of pension provision'.