Italy to Auto‑Enroll Private‑Sector Workers in Pension Funds from July 1 2026

From 1 July 2026 a new provision of Italy’s 2026 budget law will automatically enroll newly hired private‑sector employees in a sectoral complementary pension fund. Workers are enrolled by default in the fund specified by their collective bargaining agreement; if no fund is named, contributions flow to the residual Fondo Cometa. The employer and employee contributions, together with the accrued severance pay (TFR), will be transferred to the chosen fund unless the employee opts out within 60 days of hiring.

The reform ends the previous “silence‑assent” system and redirects investments from the guaranteed compartment to portfolios aligned with the worker’s age and retirement horizon. New payout options are introduced, including temporary annuities, programmed distributions and mixed capital‑and‑pension products, while the traditional lifelong annuity remains available. A fiscal incentive raises the annual deductible limit for pension‑fund contributions to €5,300.

The measure excludes domestic workers, public‑sector employees and those already covered by an existing fund. Employers must inform new hires about the applicable fund and the opt‑out procedure. Authorities estimate about 100,000 additional enrollments each year, aiming to boost the current 40 % participation rate in complementary pensions.