Since coming from UK to Italy our childrens UK child benefit has been stopped. Is there an equivelant or similar benefit for children under 16 or so, here in Italy we might be able to claim for? My husband is in employment here and pays taxes/ins here through his employer. Any advice on what we need to do or provide will be very helpful. Many thanks.

If your husband is an employee (dipendente) he qualifies for an assegno familiare. He should speak with the consulente di lavoro at his job (they should have advised him of this when he started), and essentially it is all done at the INPS office. The amount depends on how much he makes (more you make, the less you get), how many children you have, how old they are (children under 3 are credited for more), and whether or not you (the wife) works. It will not be a huge sum per child, but every bit helps, right?! The money is added to his paycheck every month and you can even claim it as far back as he has been working- so back pay for the assengo familiare.
P.s.: sorry if i spelled anything wrong here, but i think you get the gist...
Addition/Edit: for single parents, like myself, make sure your child/children are deducted at a higher rate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jenna,

Yes, what Jenna says is correct. It's called an assegno nucleo familiare and if I remember correctly, in my (unhappy!) days as a payroll administrator in Rome, the employees would just fill in a request form and hand it in to the HR dept. As Jenna says, the amount of money depends on your salary and how many people "a carico" i.e. how many dependents. And yes, it was possible to back-date it.

I have a little update... besides awaiting the arrival of 3 months worth of assegno familiare, our consulente di lavoro said that I will receive a bonus 1,500 euros (non-taxable) from the Regione di Piemonte. According to him, this is probably based on number of factors including: we are Italian citizens, my son's age (i.e.: school age), the fact I am employed as a professional, where I work is sponsored by the Piemonte region, and that we recently moved from outside Italy to the Piemonte region. I will believe it when I see the money... am delighted but confused. I asked him exactly which factor put us into this category and he gave me a CONFUSING answer.

Thank you so much Jenna and Kat for your advice. We will now action this as best as we can, and hope like you, to receive something, as you say, every little helps, especially as we are buying three lots of scuola media books!!! Again thank you and we will wait with baited breath!

do self employed people get the italian child benefit?