The government is about to launch the implementing decrees of the Ape, the new pension advance that will allow you to leave your job earlier. On Thursday the Minister of Labour, Giuliano Poletti, assured that there will be no slippage: the new measure will become operational starting from May XNUMXst.
As expected from the last one Budget law, there are three basic requirements for accessing the Ape: 63 years of age, 20 of contributions paid to INPS and accrual of the requirements for the old-age pension within the following 3 years and 7 months. There are two types of Ape: the voluntary one, which requires the worker to apply for a loan from the bank, and the social one, designed for categories in difficulty and entirely paid for by the state.
VOLUNTARY BEE
The voluntary Ape allows you to receive a monthly allowance from the day you stop working until you are entitled to an old-age pension. The duration is between a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 3 years and 7 months.
These sums do not contribute to forming the income on which Irpef is paid and are disbursed in 12 months by INPS, but come from an insured bank loan which must be repaid in the first twenty years of effective retirement.
Reimbursement will take place in 13 annual installments by cutting the social security allowance. The nominal annual rate (Tan) will be around 2,75%: this is the value on which the negotiations between the government and the dozen banks that will adhere to the agreement are about to close.
But in addition to bank interest, it will also be compulsory to pay the premium of an insurance policy: in this way the cost of the installments will rise, on average, to 4,6-4,7% for each year of advance obtained with the Ape. The insurance serves to protect the bank and the heirs from the risk that the subscriber dies before having paid off the debt.
In light of these costs, the voluntary Ape also provides for a fourth requirement: the future pension, net of the loan repayment installment, must not be less than 700 euros per month, i.e. 1,4 times the minimum INPS treatment.
On closer inspection, therefore, the voluntary Ape is not a real early pension, because it does not provide for any reduction in pension requirements. Rather, it is a financial advance whose cost – far from low – is only partially offset by a tax deduction of 50% on the interest and premium portion.
SOCIAL BEE
As far as the Ape social is concerned, applications can be presented in two windows: 1st May – 30th June and 1st July – 30th November. The second will allow applications to be accepted in relation to the remaining resources.
But the social Ape will not be accessible to everyone. Only four categories of people can apply:
1) unemployed without social shock absorbers and with at least 30 years of contributions;
2) disabled people with a reduction in working capacity of at least 74% and with at least 30 years of contributions;
3) people with at least 30 years of contributions who have been assisting their spouse or a first-degree relative cohabiting with a disability for at least six months;
4) workers who have been carrying out "burdensome activities" for at least 6 consecutive years and with at least 36 years of contributions (nursing and midwifery professions; kindergarten teachers; carers; porters; goods movers; ecological operators, waste collectors and separators , unskilled cleaning personnel; mining, construction and building maintenance workers; operators of cranes and mobile construction drilling machinery; drivers of trucks and heavy equipment; train conductors and personnel traveling; tanners of skins and furs).
Furthermore, to be entitled to the Ape social, one cannot exceed an income ceiling of 8 thousand euros a year, nor receive unemployment benefits.
As for the check received with the Ape social, it is not subject to revaluation and is paid out over 12 months. Its amount is equal to the monthly installment of the pension calculated at the time of access to the Ape social, but it cannot in any case exceed the maximum limit of 1.500 euros per month.
Finally, the benefit of the indemnity is recognized, upon request, within the annual spending limits set by the budget: 300 million euros for the year 2017; 609 million euros for the year 2018; 647 million euros for the year 2019; 462 million euros for the year 2020; 280 million euros for the year 2021; 83 million euros for the year 2022; 8 million euros for the year 2023.
