CIG, CIGO and CIGS: Italy's Temporary Wage Support Explained
Your employer put you on cassa integrazione? You keep your job, but you need to know how much you'll receive, what you're allowed to do, and what happens if you don't report extra income.
In a nutshell
Cassa Integrazione Guadagni (CIG — Italy's state-funded temporary wage support) is a benefit paid by INPS (Italy's social-security agency — pensions, unemployment, family benefits) when your employer cuts or suspends activity. Your employment contract stays active — you are not fired. There are two main types: CIGO for short-term disruptions and CIGS for more serious structural problems. In both cases it is your employer, not you, who applies.
At a glance
| Cost | Free for the worker |
| Duration | CIGO: up to 13 weeks, extendable to 52 in a rolling two-year period. CIGS: up to 24 consecutive months. Payment: within 60 days of INPS authorisation |
| Where in Rome | INPS DM Roma Centro, Via dell'Amba Aradam 5; INPS DM Roma Eur, Viale Beethoven 48. Contact centre: 803 164 (free from a landline) |
| Documents | Suspension letter from your employer, pay slips showing the CIG entry, IBAN for direct payment (modello SR41) |
CIGO vs. CIGS: what's the difference?
CIGO (Cassa Integrazione Ordinaria) — the ordinary, short-term scheme — covers temporary events outside the company's control: shortage of orders, bad weather in construction, machinery breakdown, fire, or natural disaster. It lasts a maximum of 13 consecutive weeks, renewable up to a combined total of 52 weeks in a rolling two-year window.
CIGS (Cassa Integrazione Straordinaria) — the extraordinary scheme — is for deeper, structural problems and requires authorisation from the Ministry of Labour: company reorganisation (up to 24 months), company crisis (up to 12 months), or a defensive solidarity contract to avoid collective dismissals (up to 24 months, extendable by another 12). The overall cap across a rolling five-year period — combining CIGO, CIGS, and FIS — is 24 months (36 for solidarity contracts).
CIGO mainly covers industrial companies, cooperatives, construction, quarrying, agriculture, and fishing. CIGS applies to industrial firms with more than 15 employees and to service-sector businesses with more than 50. If your employer falls outside both schemes, it can access the FIS (Fondo di Integrazione Salariale — a supplementary wage fund for smaller or mixed-sector companies).
How much will you receive?
INPS pays you 80% of the gross wages you would have earned for the hours not worked. There is a ceiling: in 2024 the maximum is €1,401.46 gross per month (INPS Circular no. 45/2024). A 5.84% deduction is then applied to the gross figure, so the net amount you actually receive is roughly €1,320 per month if you are fully suspended.
Two practical examples:
- Gross salary €1,800/month: 80% would be €1,440, but that exceeds the cap. You receive €1,401.46 gross, approximately €1,320 net.
- Gross salary €1,500/month: 80% is €1,200, below the cap. You receive €1,200 gross, approximately €1,130 net.
If you are on reduced hours (still working some hours each day), your employer pays you normally for the hours worked and INPS covers 80% of the missed hours, proportionally.
While on CIG you continue to accrue notional pension contributions (contributi figurativi) and your TFR (severance pay accrued during employment in Italy) keeps building for the suspended hours. You do not accrue holiday entitlement or the thirteenth-month pay (tredicesima) for hours you don't work — at least under full-suspension CIGO.
What you need to do (not much, but it matters)
Your employer files the CIG application, not you. The company consults the trade unions, then submits the request to INPS (for CIGO) or to the Ministry of Labour via cigsonline.lavoro.gov.it (for CIGS). Payment is then handled in one of two ways: either your employer advances your CIG wages through the normal payslip and later recovers the money from INPS, or — if the company is in proven financial difficulty — it asks INPS to pay you directly (using modello SR41/SR43, which the employer fills in).
Your main responsibilities are:
- Give your employer your IBAN if direct payment is needed.
- Tell INPS immediately if you find other work. If you are on full-suspension CIG and you work elsewhere, the benefit is suspended for the days you work. Failing to declare extra income means losing the benefit and having to pay it all back.
Keep every payslip that shows the "Cassa Integrazione" entry and your annual Certificazione Unica (the income certificate your employer issues each year). You will need these documents — among other things — to show proof of income when renewing a residence permit.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating CIG like holiday. You're off the premises, but your employer can call you back at any time according to the rotation schedule. Stay reachable and plan accordingly.
- Not reporting other income to INPS. Working during CIG without declaring it means you risk losing the benefit and having to repay every euro received.
- Thinking a Patronato (free union-run office helping with social-security and immigration paperwork) can file the CIG application for you. Only the employer can apply. A Patronato can help you check your payslip or start an appeal, but it cannot submit the original claim on the employer's behalf.
Special cases
Non-EU foreign workers: time spent on CIG counts as regular employment in every legal sense. You are entitled to renew your Permesso di soggiorno (residence permit for non-EU citizens) for employed work, and CIG income counts toward the income requirement for renewal. It also counts for family-reunification income thresholds.
If you fall ill during CIG: the benefit is suspended and INPS pays you sick-pay allowance for the certified days of illness.
If you are made redundant after CIGS ends: you are entitled to NASpI (Italy's unemployment benefit). File the application within 68 days of your dismissal.
CIG and other benefits: CIG is not compatible with NASpI, a pension, or DIS-COLL. It is compatible with the Assegno Unico (the universal child benefit).
Official sources
- INPS — Cassa Integrazione Ordinaria (CIGO)
- INPS — Cassa Integrazione Straordinaria (CIGS)
- INPS — Circular no. 45/2024 (2024 ceilings)
- INPS — Circular no. 18/2022 (welfare reform)
- Ministry of Labour — Social safety nets
- Ministry of Labour — CIGS Online portal
- Normattiva — D.Lgs. 148/2015
Legal references: D.Lgs. 14/09/2015 n. 148; Legge 30/12/2021 n. 234 art. 1 commi 191-220; D.L. 4/2022 conv. in L. 25/2022; Circolare INPS n. 18/2022; Circolare INPS n. 45/2024.