Italy: greater than expected take up of the APE early retirement scheme

The Anticipo Pensionistico (APE) scheme whereby Italian workers can retire prior to the legal retirement age by way of a bank ‘bridging’ loan that supplies an income until the regular pension payments start has met with unexpected success. The INPS (National Institute of Social Security) announced that prior to the 15 July deadline 66,409 applications fulfilling the eligibility criteria by 31 December 2017 had been received, or about 10% more than the had government estimated for the year 2017.
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Almost 40,000 applications were related to the social APE, which is geared to those over 63 and in a vulnerable situation (long-term unemployed, workers having carried out arduous labor, etc.) and more than 26,000 related to the ‘young workers’ (those who started making social security contributions prior to age 19). The State bears the cost of the ‘bridging loan’ for both of these categories.

If State funds are insufficient then some workers will see their departure date moved out by a year, or

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