Welfare, for half of the Italians the system must be reformed but only 10% are willing to say yes to cuts

Yes, the welfare system must be reformed, not least because the gradual decline in birth rates and the consequent ageing of the population leave no room for manoeuvre. But if this implies a reduction in expenditure, so as to make the entire system more sustainable in terms of accounts, then better to think about it. For 9 out of 10 Italians, the welfare of the future will have to envisage greater integration between social, health, educational and employment services and will have to invest in prevention and health promotion, stimulating correct lifestyles to reduce long-term health costs. For 8 out of 10 it will have to support people and their resilience to disasters and crises. This is what emerges from the Report FragilItalia "The welfare of the future", produced by Area Studi Legacoop in collaboration with Ipsos, based on the results of a survey carried out on a representative sample of Italian society (800 cases aged 18 and over) to test their opinions on the subject.

Alongside these indications, the country appears to be split down the middle on the need to reform the social security and healthcare system in the face of an ageing population. For 53%, radical reforms are needed, but only 10% are in favour of cuts and reductions to make the system sustainable, while 43% think it is necessary to cut only the privileged, while guaranteeing minimum welfare for all. On the other hand, 47% are against reforms, with 43% considering that more state investment and cost rationalisation is needed, while 4% would like to continue as now.

The report also ranks the challenges that the public protection system will have to face in the coming years. In first place is prevention and health promotion (recording 50% of the indications), followed by the ageing of the population (43%), social inequalities (40%), financial sustainability (37%), integration between social, health, education and labour services (36%), policies to support people to cope with temporary life difficulties (34%) or disasters (33%), and changes in the labour market (32%).

With regard to the advisability of reforming the welfare system, alongside the results mentioned above, which testify to a substantial split in the opinions of Italians, it is also worth noting that, in order to tackle the problem of the ageing population, 55% of those interviewed declared themselves to be very much (11%) or fairly in agreement (44%) with the hypothesis of rethinking the mix of contributions, general taxation and user co-participation to guarantee universal and quality services. This figure is consistent with the assessments regarding future welfare management. While 32% would prefer management entrusted only to the State and public bodies, 43% favour management in collaboration between the State and public bodies with cooperatives or non-profit bodies, 23% favour management in collaboration between the State and public bodies with private capitalist companies, and 3% for private entities only.

65% of respondents believe that cooperatives should play an important role in the development of the welfare of the future. Among the areas of greatest contribution for cooperatives, 34% indicated the integration of social, health and educational services; 32% the creation of networks of services ever closer to families and individuals, 31% social inequalities, 28% youth policies, 27% support policies for people facing temporary life difficulties or social risks.