Some meal vouchers are safe and some are not. From January 1st there will be a maximum ceiling of 5% also in the private sector (as has already happened in the public sector since 2022) on the commissions applied by meal voucher managers, but the tickets already in circulation can remain at today’s conditions until 31 August 2025. The green light in the Productive Activities Commission to the Fratelli d’Italia amendment to the Competition bill puts an end, with a compromise, to a battle that has been ongoing for some time between the four protagonists of the affair: the employers (around 300 thousand companies), workers (3.5 million at the end of 2023), ticket issuing companies and commercial establishments where they are accepted and used. The provision, welcomed as a victory by Federdistribuzione, Confcommercio and Ancc-Coop, introduces a long-awaited principle of fairness, but also brings with it doubts and concerns about the effects on the corporate welfare system.
Meal vouchers, used by around 300 thousand companies and millions of workers, represent a crucial corporate welfare tool in Italy. They allow employees to buy groceries at the supermarket, pay for meals in restaurants or drinks in bars. The mechanism is simple: employers purchase vouchers from issuing companies, which stipulate agreements with merchants who accept them as a form of payment. However, businesses are never paid 100% of the nominal value of the ticket: a part, often between 10% and 20%, is retained by the issuing companies as a commission. With the new cap, this percentage will no longer be able to exceed 5%, making it more sustainable for bars, restaurants, supermarkets and other businesses to accept the vouchers. The measure was in fact designed to reduce the costs that were pushing many operators to refuse tickets, compromising its effectiveness as a welfare tool.
The imposition of the limit on commissions therefore represents an opportunity to create a fairer system, but its implementation could have implications that will affect the final beneficiaries: the workers.
On the side of the operators, in fact, the cap rebalances the market and guarantees greater sustainability for all operators. According to the National Association of Meal Voucher Issuing Companies (Anseb), however, the provision risks destabilizing the entire system which is worth 4 billion euros a year. According to their estimates, the measure could cost private companies 180 million euros per year, with a direct impact on around 300,000 existing contracts. In fact, the issuing companies, by receiving less income from each voucher, could increase the supply costs for employers. This scenario could translate into two outcomes: an increase in spending for companies, if they decide to keep the number of vouchers provided to employees unchanged, or a reduction in the number of vouchers distributed, compromising the level of corporate welfare. Therefore direct consequences on workers.
A further critical point concerns the roof application times. For vouchers already issued, the current conditions will remain valid until 31 August 2025. New tickets issued from 1 January 2025 will instead be subject to the 5% limit, while for existing contracts it will be possible to renegotiate without charges or penalties from September of the same year. This long transitional period, hailed as a necessary compromise, has however raised doubts on the part of some associations, such as Ancc-Coop, who complain about the excessive delay in time.
The 5% cap represents a step forward towards greater uniformity, but does not completely resolve the structural issues of the meal voucher market. On the one hand, the provision promises to ease the pressure on operators and therefore broadens the number of places that accept tickets, but at the same time it risks translating into a reduction in welfare for workers due to higher prices for companies, especially small ones. and medium-sized enterprises.
