Inps: all pensions indexed in January 2027 payslip, differences settled later

A change of timing

On 10 November the Inps told the budget committees of the Chamber and the Senate that indexation would apply from the January payslip only to pensions up to four times the minimum, while higher pensions would receive their differences by the first quarter of 2027. In a note issued on 11 November the institute reversed that plan. Every pension will now be indexed from the January 2027 installment, including those above four times the minimum, and any differences tied to the new rules still before Parliament will be settled later through a conguaglio, a balancing adjustment that only refines the amounts.

“In line with the government's guidance, the institute adopted this solution to protect pensioners' purchasing power from the first instalment of the year.”

The Inps director general, Valeria Vittimberga, had earlier tied the slower schedule to technical processing times, since the January installment had already been calculated. The union Cisl wants the full revaluation paid in January, while the institute says no pension will stay frozen in the early months of the year.

The new indexation formula

The budget bill replaces the current scale system with a class-based formula of six bands. Pensions up to four times the minimum, which ANSA puts at 2,447.40 euros gross, keep full indexation, while the band from four to five times the minimum receives 85%, five to six times 53%, six to eight times 47%, eight to ten times 37%, and anything above ten times the minimum 32%. The current system recovers inflation in full up to four times the minimum, then 90% between four and five times and 75% above five times. The government expects the change to save 1.4 billion euros gross a year, or 850 million net of tax effects.

ANSA reported that 3.6 million pensioners would be affected, while Istat's president Francesco Maria Chelli told the Chamber hearing that just over 3.5 million would receive on average about 510 euros gross less per year in 2027 than under the previous calculation method.

Estimated losses after tax

Istat's estimate of the tax effect puts the average income tax saving at 220 euros a year, bringing the average loss down to 290 euros. Including the income tax cut in the same budget bill, total tax relief for those pensioners would be about 360 euros a year, leaving an average effective loss near 150 euros. La Repubblica's account of the hearing, however, puts the average income tax benefit at 450 euros, so the tax offset figures differ by source. Istat stresses that these are averages and that the real impact depends on the pension amount and personal tax situation.

Uil Pensionati calculated the yearly loss at several gross monthly levels: 144.17 euros at 2,500 euros, 153.92 at 3,000, 574.73 at 3,500, 711.23 at 4,000, 1,015.43 at 5,000, 1,163.63 at 6,000 and 1,314.17 at 6,200 euros.

2,500 euros a month144.17

3,000 euros a month153.92

3,500 euros a month574.73

4,000 euros a month711.23

5,000 euros a month1,015.43

6,000 euros a month1,163.63

6,200 euros a month1,314.17

2,500 euros a month

144.17 euros per year

3,000 euros a month

153.92 euros per year

3,500 euros a month

574.73 euros per year

4,000 euros a month

711.23 euros per year

5,000 euros a month

1015.43 euros per year

6,000 euros a month

1163.63 euros per year

6,200 euros a month

1314.17 euros per year

Data from the article text

The managers' union Cida estimates that a pension of 5,500 euros gross a month has lost about 96,000 euros cumulatively since 2012, and that losses on higher pensions could approach 200,000 euros, with another 3,000 euros in 2027.

Doubts over the method

Gianfranco Santoro, Inps's central director for studies and research, said at the hearing that the approach had been used in the past to avoid later requests for money from pensioners. An analysis by Il Fatto Quotidiano, drawn from lavoce.info work by Simone Pellegrino, argues that the class-based rule applies only to pensioners and recovers inflation only in part. It assumes 3 percent inflation for 2026 and warns that if prices rise faster than expected, the penalty for pensioners looks assured.