Developing digital skills for better social protection services in Italy

INPS is the main social security organisation in Italy and one of the largest in the European Union (EU). INPS stores and processes data of more than 90% of pensioners and workers, serves over 40 million citizens every year, and manages financial flows worth more than EUR 800 billion. Most recently, the institution has played a fundamental role in helping Italy to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, by channeling over 44.5 billion euros to approximately 15 million beneficiaries. INPS already provides all its benefits online but given its central role in the Italian national protection system needs to strengthen the digital skills of its staff, to make the most of the opportunities offered by new technologies and to share its experience with public administrations beyond Italy.

Support to be delivered

The project will support the digital transformation of INPS by:

• analysing the current digital skills of the INPS workforce;
• conducting a comparative analysis of European good practices;
• suggesting a roadmap for effective communication about digital services offered by INPS providing recommendations for an institutional learning mechanism, allowing INPS to keep up to date with innovation trends and tools in social services.

The project will enable INPS to foster digital skills and digital mind-sets of its employees and to raise awareness among citizens about its digital services. As these outcomes materialise, INPS users should be able to receive higher quality services. The project will also enable INPS to become an example of good practice for other Italian and EU public administrations.

• Working Paper: Developing skills for digital government: A review of good practices across OECD governments