With Decree-Law No. 92/2025, published on Official Gazette issue no. 146 of 26 June 2025, the Government has introduced a set of urgent measures to support productive sectors, aimed at providing financial assistance to employees of companies undergoing a period of crisis.
Among the most significant provisions, Chapter II of the aforementioned decree enhances the special subsidised furlough schemes available to the following types of company:
- companies operating in areas of complex industrial crisis as recognised under art. 27 of Decree-Law No. 83/2012, converted with amendments by Law No. 134/2012,
- companies forming part of corporate groups with a headcount of 1,000 employees or more,
- companies implementing a corporate plan to cease operations,
- companies seized or confiscated and placed under judicial administration,
- companies forming part of the fashion production chain.
Although the Decree also introduces provisions concerning plants of national strategic interest, this update focuses solely on the provisions relating to wage supplementation schemes. As these provisions are laid down in a decree-law, any amendments introduced during its conversion into law will be covered in a future update.
Exemption from the payment of additional contribution for production units located in areas of complex industrial crisis (art. 6)
Pursuant to art. 6 of Decree-Law No. 92/2025, employers operating in areas of complex industrial crisis as recognised under art. 27 of Decree-Law No. 83/2012 (converted, with amendments, by Law No. 134/2012) may be granted, subject to the signing of a specific agreement with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, an additional period of extraordinary subsidised furlough of up to 12 months per reference year. This measure is conditional upon the submission of a re-employment plan providing for active labour market policy pathways aimed at the reallocation of workers (art. 44(11-bis), Legislative Decree No. 148/2015).
Under this provision, employers authorised to access the aforementioned subsidised furlough measures for the year 2025 are exempt from paying the related additional contribution (art. 5(1), Legislative Decree No. 148/2015).
However, such exemption does not apply—or shall cease to apply—if any of the following conditions occur:
- the employer is already benefiting from a similar exemption for the same company,
- the employer initiates a collective redundancy procedure (Law No. 223/1991) during the subsidised furlough period.
Support for Employees in Corporate Groups (art. 7)
By way of derogation from the duration limits of wage supplementation benefits provided under Articles 4 and 22 of Legislative Decree No. 148/2015, enterprises forming part of corporate groups employing no fewer than 1,000 workers may apply for an additional period of extraordinary subsidised furlough (CIGS) until 31 December 2027, as a continuation of previously authorised wage support measures.
This provision was introduced to allow companies that were previously unable to access such funds – due to the exhaustion of financial resources – to benefit from newly allocated funds, provided that, as of 27 June 2025, they have already signed a framework agreement aimed at:
- ensuring employment levels,
- managing redundancies, and
- initiating reindustrialisation programs.
Such agreement must be entered into with the most representative national trade unions, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.
The working time for each employee benefiting from CIGS may be reduced up to 100% over the entire period for which the support is granted.
The subsidised furlough treatment is authorised within the following spending limits:
- EUR 30.7 million for 2025,
- EUR 31.3 million for 2026,
- EUR 32 million for 2027.
Support measures for workers in the event of business transfers and termination of operations (Art. 8)
Article 8 of the Decree, by introducing new paragraphs 1-ter, 1-quater and 1-quinquies into Article 44 of Decree-Law No. 109/2018, provides that companies experiencing corporate crisis situations involving the cessation of production may, for 2025, apply for an additional period of extraordinary subsidised furlough (CIGS), by way of derogation from the duration limits set out in Articles 4 and 22 of Legislative Decree No. 148/2015, for up to 6 further months.
This additional support is granted on the condition that:
- the companies have signed a government-level agreement at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, possibly also in the presence of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy,
- following the implementation of a company closure plan, there are concrete prospects of a rapid (even partial) transfer of the business resulting in re-employment opportunities.
The CIGS benefit is forfeited if the affected worker, in the context of the re-employment programme:
- refuses to attend or fails to regularly attend a vocational training or retraining course offered within either:
- 50 kilometres from their residence, or
- a commuting time of 80 minutes by public transport,
- rejects a job offer with a pay level no lower than 20% below that of their previous position, provided the new job is no more than 50 kilometres from their residence.
Companies benefiting from this CIGS measure are required to submit the list of affected employees to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies for inclusion in the Information System for Social and Labour Inclusion (as per Art. 5 of Decree-Law No. 48/2023). The CIGS measure is granted, for 2025, within the spending limit of EUR 20 million, charged to the Social Fund for Employment and Training (Art. 18(1)(a) of Decree-Law No. 185/2008).
Income support for employees of seized and confiscated companies (Art. 9)
An increase in the spending limits has been introduced for the granting of extraordinary subsidised furlough (CIGS) in favour of workers suspended from work or working reduced hours, employed by companies seized or confiscated and placed under judicial administration (Art. 1(171) of Law No. 213/2023).
The revised spending limits are as follows:
- EUR 700,000 for 2024,
- EUR 8.7 million for 2025,
- EUR 8.7 million for 2026.
Fashion sector (Art. 10)
Pursuant to Art. 2 of Decree-Law No. 160/2024, subordinate workers employed by companies – including artisan businesses – operating in the fashion sector are entitled to income support in relation to periods of suspension or reduction of working time, for a maximum of 12 weeks and until 31 January 2025, amounting to 80% of the global wage that would have been due for non-worked hours, up to the contractual working time.
With Art. 10 of the decree under review, the Government provides an additional period of subsidised furlough, exempt from additional contribution duties, for a maximum of 12 weeks from 1 February 2025 to 31 December 2025, without exceeding the spending limit already established for 2025 by Art. 2(4) of Decree-Law No. 160/2024 (EUR 36.8 million).
As for the payment methods, the new provision amends Art. 2(3) of Decree-Law No. 160/2024, allowing the employer to directly pay the wage supplementation to employees at the end of each pay period, instead of being required to do so. Alternatively, the employer may request direct payment by INPS even without proving serious and documented financial hardship.
We remain available for any further clarification.