“Dedicated to you”, the 382 euro anti- top-up social card starts on July 18: here’s how it works and who it belongs to.
Families of at least three members and ISEE up to a maximum of 15,000 euros. They are the ones who will receive the “Dedicated to you” card, i.e. a card containing 382.50 euros for the purchase of goods and food. «The initiative concerns those one million and 300 thousand families who have the greatest difficulty in purchasing basic necessities, the famous expensive cart. We have invested 500 million euros to help them», announced the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. However, the measure “cannot be added to other income support measures”, specifies the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida.
Who are the beneficiaries of the grant?
The beneficiaries of the measure, who do not have to apply, are identified among citizens belonging to households (consisting of at least three people), residing in the Italian territory, in possession of the following requirements at the date of publication of the decree:
● registration in the Registry of the Resident Population (municipal Registry);
● ownership of a valid ordinary ISEE certification, with an indicator not exceeding 15,000 euros.
The contribution is intended exclusively for the purchase of basic foodstuffs.
What does “family unit” mean?
The family nucleus identified for the purpose of assigning the benefit is the one certified in the Single Substitutive Declaration (DSU), reported in the relative ordinary ISEE certification, present in the INPS databases at the date of publication of the decree in the Official Gazette (May 12, 2023) .
All members of the core of the DSU must also be present in the National Registry of the Resident Population (ANPR).
What are the criteria for defining the rankings of the grant beneficiaries?
Nuclei with members born between 2023 and 2009 have priority in the ranking, in order of precedence for nucleuses with smaller components.
In particular, the list of selected eligible beneficiaries is ordered according to the following criteria:
1. Units that register the presence of at least one member born within 31 December 2009, with the following priority criteria:
to. Increasing ordinary ISEE indicator;
b. Date of birth of the three youngest members;
c. Number of members of the DSU (at least three people).
2. Units that register the presence of at least one member born within 31 December 2005, with the following priority criteria:
to. Increasing ordinary ISEE indicator;
b. Date of birth of the three youngest members;
c. Number of members of the DSU (at least three people).
3. The remaining places in the ranking are defined on the basis of the number of DSU members (at least 3 people), with the following priority criteria:
to. Increasing ordinary ISEE indicator;
b. Date of birth of the three youngest members.
Is a citizen who has not requested the ISEE excluded from the possibility of accessing the contribution?
Yes, the possession of an ordinary ISEE certification as at 12 May 2023 is an essential selection requirement for access to the contribution
How much is the contribution associated with each card?
The amount of the economic benefit is equal to 382.50 euros as pursuant to the decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of 18 April 2023, published in the Official Gazette no. 110 of 12 May 2023, containing “Criteria for identifying households in need, beneficiaries of the economic contribution provided for by art. 1, paragraphs 450 and 451 of the law of 29 December 2022 n. 197”.
How to use the card?
The cards will be operational from July 2023: to activate them, a first payment must be made with the assigned card by 15 September 2023.
Please note: failure to activate it by 15 September 2023 will result in the card not being usable and the consequent forfeiture of the contribution.
Where can the card be picked up?
● The card can be collected at all Post Offices and not just nearby ones;
● The list of post offices is available on the Poste Italiane website (www.poste.it) or in the Poste Italiane app under the heading “search post office and book”;
● To collect the card, it is necessary to present the communication received from the Municipality of residence, which contains the combination of the beneficiary’s tax code with the code of the assigned card.
Who can go to the Post Office to collect the card?
The card can only be withdrawn by the beneficiary, except for the possibility of a proxy made in accordance with current provisions, using the appropriate forms distributed by Poste Italiane.
How can the beneficiary view the remaining balance on the card?
The remaining balance can be viewed at Poste Italiane ATMs.
Is there a list of businesses where the card can be used?
The card can be used in all shops that sell food.
With special agreements, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry MASAF has stipulated agreements with all participating businesses, belonging to large-scale retail trade and beyond, for the application of a further 15% discount in favor of card holders.
It is possible to freely consult the list of the Associations adhering to the promotion of the measure, and of the commercial establishments that have undertaken to apply the 15% discount on the following page:
> MASAF Convention / Trade Associations
Can the contribution be spent on the purchase of medicines?
No. The card can only be used to purchase basic foodstuffs.
What are the reasons for exclusion from the contribution?
The contribution is not attributed to households which, on the date of entry into force of this decree, include holders of:
● Citizenship income;
● Inclusion income (any other social inclusion measure or poverty support).
Furthermore, the contribution is not payable to households in which at least one member is a recipient of:
● New social insurance for employment (NASPI and social unemployment allowance for DIS-COLL collaborators);
● mobility allowance;
● Solidarity funds for income integration;
● Redundancy fund (CIG);
● Any other form of State-provided wage subsidy for involuntary unemployment.
What to do in case of change of residence?
In case of change of residence of the beneficiary, contact the Municipality of residence.
What to do in the event of the beneficiary’s death?
In the event of the beneficiary’s death, contact your municipality of residence.
What to do in case of theft, loss, cloning, need to block or malfunction of the card?
In the event of theft, loss, cloning, need to block or replace due to malfunction, in addition to being able to consult a dedicated web page on poste.it and postepay.it, the beneficiaries can contact the following FREE toll-free number, made available by Poste Italian: 800-210170.
For any other information, citizens can contact their municipality of residence.
The inflation crisis and the “Dedicated to you” card experiment
“The big concern at the moment – underlines the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti – is the inflationary dynamics of food prices, which are beyond our expectations”. To help counter it, “the experiment of the card ‘Dedicated to you’ I hope will be successful and can be replicated”. The eligible families have been identified by INPS, which will communicate the list to the Municipalities. These, in turn, will send the communication to the beneficiaries.
Card Distribution and Activation
The distribution of cards at Post Offices will start from 17 July. Before going to collect it, the holder will have to wait for the message with which the municipality to which he belongs, from 18 July, will communicate the card number. The withdrawal should be possible from 24-25 July. «There are 7,558 out of 7,901 Municipalities that have already activated the procedures for delivery and I hope they will all soon», explains Lollobrigida.
Identification of beneficiaries and deadlines
«It is not necessary to apply for the bonus, but it is the INPS – specifies the Minister of Labor, Marina Elvira Calderone – which has identified the lists of beneficiaries, through a very important operation, which gives the dimension of proximity to these situations of difficulty”. The important thing is to activate the card by September 15th. “We want to use up all the expected sum.” Therefore, “after that date, the funds from the non-activated cards will be divided among the other beneficiaries,” Lollobrigida points out.
Exclusions from the measure and applicable discounts
Excluded from the anti-inflation measure, as the commercial that will be broadcast on TV and radio also explains, are however the citizens who enjoy other supports, such as Citizenship or Inclusion Income, but also Naspi and Cig. “The state coffer does not have infinite resources”, explains the minister, “we must try to lend a hand to all those in need, by preparing calibrated measures”. Card holders will also be entitled to a 15% discount on shopping done in shops adhering to the convention.
Contribution of companies and hope of continuity of the measure
“The companies of the Modern Distribution – adds the president of Federdistribuzione, Carlo Alberto Buttarelli – put in place a discount that translates into a total investment of around 75 million euros, in addition to the 500 million allocated by the government”. Hope, for the president of Anci Antonio De Caro, is “that this measure becomes stable, perhaps by expanding resources and involving the Municipalities through the network of social services. Because some conditions of poverty escape the statistics of the INPS database”.
Criticisms of the measure
However, the measure does not fail to raise doubts. “After removing the Citizenship Income from 500,000 families in poverty, the government is launching with great fanfare what is only a one-off contribution of 383 euros: the equivalent of a single coffee a day”, comments the confederal secretary of the Cgil Daniela Barbaresi. Angelo Bonelli, deputy of Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, increases the dose: “the energy giants that have accumulated extra profits for 40 billion are not taxed, while the poor get one euro a day”.