The INPS IT platform of "vouchers" for casual work was launched on 17 July. The balance of these three months that have just passed? 49 thousand registered users, of which 8 thousand families, 24 thousand small businesses and 17 thousand workers, all for a value of approximately 12 million euros paid.
However, these are numbers that are very far from those of the old vouchers (repealed on 17 March 2017), which had involved around 400 thousand workers, reaching 36 million vouchers sold, for a value of 360 million euros. The new system has created a double track for households and businesses, with very steep penalties for violations.
The main limitation of these new vouchers seems to be represented by the rules that define the methods of use. According to INPS data, the new rules are ensuring that an instrument created with the intention of bringing out undeclared work is rapidly transforming into a new stimulus for carrying out professional activities illegally (which according to one Istat study today represents 15,9% of employment). Who wants to use the family record book and occasional service contract needs a quick, simple and effective system.
Let's analyze in detail what are the main critical issues that are exponentially reducing the users of the new "coupon".
USE CONSTRAINTS
The occasional service contract is subject to numerous limits of different nature. First of all, each user, with reference to all the lenders, cannot pay compensation for an amount exceeding five thousand euros (maximum 36 euros per day, 8 euros per hour). Furthermore, companies can have a maximum of five employees on permanent contracts and, dulcis in fundo, the hours worked cannot exceed 280 per year.
The more you go into detail, the more complicated it becomes. In agriculture, only pensioners, students under 25, the unemployed and recipients of income support benefits can be employed.
Companies operating in the construction sector and in related sectors for works and service contracts are instead completely excluded from the possibility of using the vouchers.
Discourse on families: they can only ask for small housework, which includes assistance to children, the elderly, the sick and the disabled. The Public Administration can access the service only with projects of a "special" nature (activities such as that of "vigilant grandparents" remain excluded).
ONLINE PROCEDURE
The web platform officially opened on July 10 on the INPS website, and the INPS Pin (or alternatively the Spid credentials) is required to register. Most of the potential users of the new vouchers did not have credentials and the support service in the various operations was activated only at the end of July.
Those who request the PIN electronically and do not apply directly to the Institute headquarters will receive the second part of the same only after a few days and with the times of the postal service.
LONG TIMES FOR BOTH PARTIES
Clients must therefore open a sort of account in which to accumulate the supply to pay for occasional work. To date, payments are close to 12 million euros. However, the sums that families, businesses and the PA pay are not immediately available. 9-10 days must pass from the moment of payment to the effective usability of the amount. Perhaps this is the main limitation of the new vouchers, the total lack of flexibility.
Even for workers, times are not short at all. The INPS credits the fees via the web and forwards the insurance contributions to Inail, withholding the management costs. Of the 17 occasional workers registered on the platform, almost 1900 worked for families, with an average net salary of €300 per worker. The largest share worked for companies.
Payments are made on the 15th of the following month with crediting of the sums on bank current account, postal book or by direct domiciled transfer.
FUTURE SCENARIOS
The question that arises spontaneously is: where did the workers employed under the previous voucher regime go? Some of them have been hired on a fixed-term basis (supply and on-call contracts have increased), but this is not enough to shed light and clarity on a topic as complicated as it is potentially dangerous for the general economic trend of our country.
The only evidence, to date, is that the numbers speak for themselves. The new vouchers are not having the desired effects, and the ghost of undeclared work roams dangerously on the employment market
