Redesigned access conditions. The reform of active solidarity income (RSA), tested since spring 2023 in around fifty departments, will be generalized to the approximately 1.8 million beneficiaries of this aid from Wednesday January 1.
But the evolution of this system, put in place by the “full employment” law of 2023, has also been the subject of numerous criticisms. Employment contract, automatic registration with France Travail, compulsory weekly activities, mixed results… Franceinfo summarizes what you need to know on this subject.
All RSA beneficiaries will be registered with France Travail
Until now, only 40% of RSA recipients were registered with France Travail. From now on, this approach will concern all beneficiaries of the aid. Some 1.2 million additional people will therefore be registered as job seekers. “This registration is mandatory and automatic”underlines the website of the Family Allowance Fund (CAF). It is specified that the approach also concerns RSA beneficiaries who exercise “a professional activity”.
New job seekers will first be classified into a “waiting category” called “G” and created specifically for them. They will stay there until their orientation interview, which will determine their distribution into one of the categories going from A to F. The latter, also new, is reserved for people “on a social integration journey”according to France Travail. The creation of these two new administrative categories results from the recommendations of the National Council for Statistical Information.
The allocation of aid becomes conditional on an activity
The reform now conditions the payment of aid to fifteen to twenty hours of weekly activity. This contract will be personalized and “these fifteen hours are not a condition for the granting of an allowance, it is an element within the employment contract co-constructed between the person and the referring organization”rather believe France Travail and the Ministries of Labor and Solidarity.
The Service-public.fr site mentioned last March the fact that these hours “cannot be voluntary work carried out outside the framework of the Labor Code”. He cites several other examples of activities, including obtaining a driving license, immersion in a company to refine one's professional project, or even participation in activities in the associative sector.
Certain exceptions are also mentioned: “people who suffer from a disability, disability or health problem” as well as “single parents of children under the age of 12 who do not have a childcare solution” are not subject to this obligation. Adjustments are also possible for RSA beneficiaries “faced with difficulties in their personal and family life”.
Apart from these special cases, this new measure will be compulsory for all people who receive the RSA. A new sanction, the “suspension-remobilization” system, will come into force in the first half of 2025 to enforce it. If the beneficiary does not complete the scheduled activity hours, payment of the allowance will be suspended. If he honors his commitments again, he will be able to recover his rights retroactively.
A reform far from being unanimous
Support or constrain? For a number of associations, it is the second option that applies in the case of the reform: Secours catholique and other associations warned in a study conducted with Aequitaz and ATD Quart monde and published in October on the “drifts” of the RSA reform. The associations pointed out “the risk of sliding towards free work”distancing beneficiaries from their “integration project”.
They also deplored that the“reinforced support” put in place could harm the“autonomy” beneficiaries, in particular through the use of algorithms to guide them, “aggravation” deletions from the lists of beneficiaries and “contrasting realities” back to work.
These remarks, based on a “first non-exhaustive assessment”seem to confirm the fears expressed by certain elected officials at the time of the vote on the law “for full employment”, in 2023. The measure, promised by Emmanuel Macron and supported by the right, had aroused indignation from the left. Rebels, socialists, communists and ecologists had even contacted the Constitutional Council, believing that the reform was “violation of the constitutional right to obtain from the community adequate means of existence”. Their request was rejected.
The device was tested in 49 departments
For some, the reform of the RSA will not be new, because this “renovated accompaniment” has already been tested in 49 departments for several months. These are the same departments which pay the RSA, and they participated in the organization of the experiment alongside France Travail for people furthest from employment.
A mixed assessment of the experiment
The final evaluation report (document PDF)published in November by the Ministry of Labor, is mixed. The evaluation was carried out between July 2023 and July 2024, and studied “more than 500 participants” In “eight territories”. Among the good points, “support generally has positive effects on the situation of beneficiaries” : and “strengthening self-confidence and the ability to act” is often observed, as is a “removal of obstacles in terms of access to rights and health”.
“Orientation times have [également] been shortened”welcomes the report. “54% of beneficiaries [qui ont bénéficié de l’expérimentation au cours des douze mois précédents] have accessed employment at some point”says the director of France Travail, Thibaut Guilluy, to AFP. An assessment that he describes as“encouraging”adding that“90% of beneficiaries [se déclarent] satisfied with their support [et] 50% very satisfied”.
On the other hand, the objective of fifteen to twenty hours of weekly activity “stimulates reflections and debates among professionals and beneficiaries”, according to the report. “In practice, the achievement of this objective is uneven [et] more accessible for beneficiaries close to employment”note the authors, who emphasize that “the administrative constraint of traceability of fifteen to twenty hours is difficult to justify and can affect the relationship of trust with the beneficiaries, or in certain cases even lead to renouncing the RSA”. Il “also gives rise to negative perceptions, notably the feeling of having to justify oneself in the face of a suspicion of inactivity.”
“The provisions of the renovated support are not suitable for all types of courses”also emphasize the authors – particularly with regard to “the most autonomous audiences, those engaged in an activity creation process” or those “who are awaiting an administrative decision determining the continuation of the process”. Others “significant brakes” during the deployment of the experiment were also noted, in particular the difficulty in recruiting agents to support beneficiaries. The report finally points out that the average cost of all of this reinforced support “would oscillate between 600 and 1,200 euros per beneficiary depending on the support method” and can reach up to 4,000 euros for audiences meeting “specific issues”.
