The bomb exploded late Thursday afternoon, when the Cgil expressed "deep concern", after having discovered by surprise, through its patronages, that the INPS applications had undergone a "unilateral modification" according to which, starting from 2027, it would be necessary three more months to access the old age pension, with a parallel increase in the requirements for early retirement. All hell broke loose: all the opposition forces immediately reacted, harshly criticizing the government for an increase that had never been discussed. In the evening INPS released a rather short statement, in which denied the application of new pension requirements. Finally, on Friday morning, the institute placed the section of the website dedicated to calculating pension accrual into “maintenance” and suspended consultation. But the pie was already well and truly served., as well as the confusion generated by the ongoing political-union controversy.
The Cgil alarm, the denial of the INPS and the government's response
“The CGIL expresses deep concern for the recent unilateral modification of pension requirements operated by INPS on its applications, without any official communication from the competent ministries and in total absence of institutional transparency", said the confederal secretary Lara Ghiglione on Thursday.
The union "strongly denounces the total lack of transparency and asks immediate clarifications to INPS and to the competent ministries: it is unacceptable that decisions with such a social impact are taken without a clear regulatory reference and without adequate information", continues the union note.
What does the change to discord provide? That from 2027 they will be needed 67 years and 3 months of age to access the old age pension and 43 years and one month of contributions (one year less for women) to take advantage of early retirement. Not only that, according to the same application, from 2029 the requirements will increase further to 67 years and 5 months and 43 and two months respectively.
After the announcement launched by the Cgil, the opposition reacted, protesting against an update never officially communicated by either the INPS or the General Accounting Office of the State. Then the intervention of the INPS who denied "the application of new pension requirements" and guaranteed that "the certifications will be drawn up on the basis of the currently published tables”. In essence, nothing changes, at least for now.
The government also intervened on the issue, with the Undersecretary of Labor and Deputy Secretary of the League, Claudius Durigon who stated: "The increase in the requirements for retirement leaked inappropriately and recklessly by INPS will not happen. When an actual increase in life expectancy is recorded, as the League we will do everything to avoid this possibility".
Pensions: How it works in 2025 and what could change in 2027
Currently, there is a need 67 years old to access the old-age pension (for both men and women) or 42 years and ten months of contributions for early retirement.
The requirements have remained unchanged since 2019 and the current thresholds are locked until December 31, 2026. What will happen starting in 2027? It depends.
Pensions: What could change from 2027
In recent years, also due to the Covid-19 pandemic, life expectancy has remained unchanged and has even slightly decreased. Therefore, the pension requirements have remained the same.
Last October, however, during a hearing at the Parliament, the president of Istat Francesco Maria Chelli spoke of a new and significant increase in life expectancy and this increase could in turn lead to an upward adjustment of the retirement age, precisely to the thresholds contained in the INPS application that the CGIL spoke about: 67 years and three months in 2027 and 67 and 6 months from 2029. The Fornero law in fact, it establishes a biennial update of the retirement age based on life expectancy. And if in 2021-2022, 2023-2024 and 2025-2026 there were no increases in life expectancy and therefore the retirement age did not increase, in 2027 it is not certain that it will go the same way. Everything will depend on the government's decisions. Both for the increase and for its stop, an inter-ministerial decree is needed, which is not there today. What will happen in the future? We'll see.