A rare one «success story» for the return of the Court of Auditors: the institution welcomed on Wednesday the successful deployment of the Maisons France Services, while calling for clarification of the program’s strategy to ensure its sustainability. For its first president Pierre Moscovici, who gave the institution’s first press conference on Wednesday since the dissolution of the National Assembly at the beginning of June, “The Court is always accused of criticizing and lambasting”. More “We sometimes talk about success stories, stories that succeed, this is more the case here”he continued.
Five years after the launch of the program in response to the yellow vest crisis, the France Services network, designed to help users furthest removed from public services to carry out certain administrative procedures, has “more than 2840 spaces” spread across the territory, the Court indicates in the report published Wednesday. Request for social housing, registration with France Travail, income declaration… Nearly nine million procedures were carried out in France Services spaces in 2023, compared to a large million in 2020. “User satisfaction exceeds 90%”indicates the Court, which highlights the offer of public services “full” France Services spaces and quality of support “homogeneous across the territory”.
Pierre Moscovici thus judges that“Through France Services, users find or rediscover the presence of the State in the territories.” “The network thus has an influence – to be measured – on the feeling of abandonment of populations far from the metropolises”he insists. But the report also points out the need to «clarifier» THE “strategic orientations” of the program for the coming years. In particular, it recommends taking better account of the “specificities” of the territory in which a France Services space is established, and “to perfect (the) notoriety” of the network, largely based on word of mouth.
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Saturated spaces
In his response to the Court, the resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal points out the “national and local communication campaigns” deployed by the government, as well as the “France Services days” or the «bus France Services»which go to meet the most isolated users rather than waiting for them to visit. He also insists on the ambition of the outgoing government to reach 3,000 France Services spaces “by 2027”. On the budgetary level, the cost of the France Services program is estimated by the Court of Auditors at “around 350 million euros” for 2024, an amount described by Pierre Moscovici as “clearly reasonable” in view of the contributions of the program.
The State bears approximately a third of this cost (113 million euros) and has committed to increasing its subsidy to each France Services space from 35,000 euros in 2023 to 50,000 euros in 2026. The rest of the funding is borne by the partner associations, communities and public service operators. But this State funding “does not take into account situations of saturation of certain spaces”notes the Court. Within the institution, it is estimated that 15 to 20% of France Services spaces are saturated, and 3 to 4% “sursaturés”particularly in priority neighborhoods (QPV).
Therefore, “an additional lump sum subsidy appears necessary” for spaces that provide more than three user support services per hour and per agent, recommend the financial magistrates. Such an extension, of the order of a few tens of thousands of euros per space, would make it possible to recruit additional advisors. The government is not reacting to these financial issues, with the Prime Minister simply recalling the “substantial funding” brought to the program by the State. The report finally insists on the need to retain France Services advisors.
At around 15% of the workforce, according to figures cited by Pierre Moscovici, the staff turnover rate “is almost twice as high as in local authorities (8.6% in 2020)”Among the explanatory factors, the first president cites in particular “the precariousness of jobs recruited on fixed-term contracts, the lack of salary attractiveness” or “of professional prospects.” In his response, Gabriel Attal assures that he has “doubled the duration” initial and continuing training of advisors. One million euros has also been invested “to secure the premises of France Services and therefore their advisors”adds Matignon.
