The accompanying allowance is granted by INPS to disabled people in serious health conditions. Psychiatric conditions are also part of health problems. But according to the law, how serious does the psychiatric illness have to be in order to have the accompanying allowance?
The question is answered by the Court of Cassation with the order 15.620 of 2021.
What health conditions are needed to get the accompanying allowance
Those who request this help must be 100% civil disabled for physical or mental problems. The result of these pathologies must be the person’s non self-sufficiency.
Not being self-sufficient means that the person is unable to perform the daily acts of life or cannot walk without the help of a companion. By acts of daily life we mean washing and dressing alone, preparing and eating meals independently. More generally, for acts of daily life it is meant to be able to do by oneself everything that concerns the minimum needs connected to everyday life.
The severity of the disability
It is not necessary for the applicant to be completely unable to carry out those activities. Instead, it is sufficient that he has difficulties in carrying out those acts. The Supreme Court confirms this with the ordinance already indicated.
The difficulty that the subject encounters must however be evident and serious. It is not enough that he encounters some small difficulty which could also derive from the simple advance of age. It must be such a great difficulty that the help of another person is necessary. Without that help, carrying out that activity becomes even impossible.
How severe does the psychiatric illness have to be in order to have the accompanying allowance?
The same criteria also apply to mental illnesses. Mental invalidity must be such as to make it impossible to carry out the daily acts of life autonomously. The Court of Cassation also expresses its opinion on the surveillance in the taking of drugs. If this supervision by the chaperone can be limited to a minimum time in the daily span, the Court denies the right to the chaperone allowance.
On the other hand, accompaniment is undoubtedly up to if the mental illness is accompanied by hallucinations or manifests itself in a state of delirium. It must obviously be a rather serious mental illness.