Pensions, what will happen to Option woman
The Women's Option expires at the end of the year, a pension advance measure reserved for women that has already been extended in the past. The analysis of the columnist Giuliano Cazzola
In the universe of pensions, a "niche" sector has existed for years, of which very little is said, except when – in the session of the budget law – the problem arises of extending that particular "emergency exit" towards retirement which takes the name of "Woman Option". The law was introduced into the system in 2004 by (let's call it) the Maroni reform (law n.243 of 2003) to allow workers to anticipate their retirement by claiming 57 years of age and 35 of contributions, subjecting themselves, however, to the integral calculation with contribution method also for the periods regulated according to the remuneration method. The operation of the standard, however, was of a temporary nature.
In the early years this option went practically unnoticed and unused and was rediscovered when, especially in the public sector, an accelerated equalization of the old age of workers with that of workers was envisaged. A controversy arose over the interpretation of the rule when the so-called floating window was introduced (one year for employees, 18 months for the self-employed) to access retirement.
Currently, in the case of the Woman Option, the new requirements provide for the possibility of early retirement for women workers who by 31 December 2019 (compared to 31 December 2018 provided for by the previous legislation) have accrued a contribution seniority equal to or greater than 35 years and a 58 years of age or older in the case of employees and one more year in the case of self-employed women. These age requirements are not adequate for increases in life expectancy and the pension starts after 12 months from the maturity of the entitlement for employees (18 months for self-employed women). It remains understood, of course, that the option can be exercised if the calculation of the pension is accepted with the fully contributory method, a method which, as is well known, entails penalties that are all the greater the more years in advance of the statutory requirement.
The Technical Report (RT) referred to in Law 208/2015 (Stability Law 2016) discounted a cut of 27.5% for employees and 36% for self-employed women; the RT referred to in Legislative Decree 4/2019 discounted 14% for private employees, 19% for public employees and 23% for self-employed women; finally, the RT of the 2020 budget law considered 8% for employees and 17% for the self-employed. From this point of view – according to the Court of Auditors – the institution therefore becomes gradually less justifiable, compared to the fully contributory policyholders, to whom the current legislation offers the possibility of accessing retirement only from the 64th year of age.
In 2019, approximately 26,700 applications were received, down by 3.2% compared to 2018 (there were 26,674). Of these, about 19,200 were accepted. The regions where the highest number of applications was submitted are, in order, Lombardy (5,888), Emilia-Romagna (3,369) and Piedmont (2,849). Of the accepted applications, 28% were submitted by women with 35 years of contribution. Of the applications received, 18.4% were rejected, while 9.3% are inactive. As of January 22, 2020, 19,290 applications were accepted, equal to 85% of the applications referred to women seeking retirement in privately funded funds.
From the 2018 Inps Social Report, issued by the Steering and Supervisory Board in November 2019, it appears that 53.3% of the applications for the Woman Option accepted refer to women in situations of work difficulty (unemployed, integrated funds, etc.). In fact, 34.4% of the pensions paid as at 30 April 2019 concern female workers with no income in 2017, while 8.1% refer to female workers with income up to € 5,000, 10.8% to female workers with income between 5,001 to 8,700 euros, 13.5% with income between 8,701 and 13,000 euros, 33.2%, on the other hand, refers to workers with 2017 incomes exceeding 13,000 euros per year, 27.6% from 13,001 to 26,000 euros and 5.6% with incomes exceeding 26,000 euros per year.
In the period from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2018, with the pre-existing requirements for the innovation introduced by Legislative Decree 4 of 2019 (of the Conte 1 government), the pensions paid for the Woman Option were a total of 27,586, 74.1% for workers in private management and 25.9% for those in public management. For pensions paid as at 30 April 2019 (4,575), by virtue of the provisions of decree-law no. 4/2019, the Mef has estimated an expense to be borne by general taxation equal to 276 million euros, in consideration of the average per capita charge of 60,367 euros. Legislative Decree 4/2019, in assessing the effects deriving from the extension of the Woman Option to 31 December 2018, had assumed an average amount of the contributory pension equal to 1,200 euros per month for private employees, 1,400 per month for public workers and 800 for the autonomous ones. The overall net financial effects estimated in the technical report for the intervention amounted to approximately 250 million euros for 2019, 396 in 2020 and 490 in 2021, for an audience of approximately 19,600 women who would have exercised the option. In the subsequent regulatory intervention (Article 1, paragraph 476, of the 2020 budget law), the technical report estimated net financial effects of approximately 67 million in 2020, 187 in 2021 and 282 in 2022, with average monthly pension amounts equal to to 1,150 euros per month for private employees, 1,300 per month for public workers and 880 for the self-employed, for an audience of 18,200 workers.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/pensioni-in-scadenza-opzione-donna/ on Sat, 15 Aug 2020 14:10:02 +0000.