Former citizen income, payments suspended – Pescara

PESCARA. Since last March, the majority of SFL (Work Training Support) recipients have had their payment of the 350 euro allowance suspended. In total, there are approximately 4-5 thousand Abruzzo residents receiving the allowance which, for those under 60 years of age, has partially replaced the citizen’s income.
The complaint comes from the regional secretary CGIL Abruzzo Molise, Federica Benedettiand by the regional coordinator Inca Cgil Abruzzo Molise, Mirco D’Ignazio. «People in situations of great economic poverty», they underline, «often with difficult histories behind them and with enormous difficulty in finding work, who have activated themselves through the Employment Centres, in paths for the search for employment. But since March, following an INPS circular, payments have stopped for many of them, worsening the conditions of people who were already living in extremely difficult situations, without, however, having certain news on what will happen in the future”
The expected duration of the job training support, which started last September, would have been 12 months, but, in addition to having suffered severe delays in the initial phase also due to the absence of available training courses, it is now unclear what the monthly payment times.
«Delays and uncertainties», they continue, «the effects of which are particularly serious considering that they are being placed on the shoulders of a segment of the population with strong social and economic fragilities, for whom the amount of the previous citizenship income has already been reduced and who today the payment of the small SFL subsidy is also blocked. For these reasons, CGIL and Patronato Inca Abruzzo Molise have requested the Department of Labor and Social Policies of the Abruzzo Region and the INPS regional directorate, the establishment of a permanent discussion table that monitors the progress of Work Training Support and inclusion allowance in Abruzzo and find a quick solution to the problems that are preventing beneficiaries from receiving what they are entitled to on time. A table that also analyzes the real numbers of two measures which, unlike what happened in the past with the Citizen’s Income, have never been made known, further increasing the uncertainty about the real effectiveness of the instruments”.