this town in Orne taken as an example by Secours Catholique

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It is because the figures are alarming but the town of Flers (Orne) has decided to take the bull by the horns that Secours Catholique wanted the presentation of its annual report takes place in the presence of Bruno Asselot, deputy mayor for solidarity, representatives of CCAS, France-Travail and CAF.

Flers, zero territory of non-recourse

Together, on November 14, 2024, the same day the figures fell, they took stock of a degraded situation and the positive measures that are underway thanks to the town hall of Flers, winner of a Zero Non-Recourse Territory experiment, in 2023.

To summarize, “non-recourse” means that precarious people who have rights do not ask for them and therefore do not benefit from them. We can say that they are giving up. Which twists the neck of preconceptions… Non-recourse rates to RSA and family allowances, for example, are respectively 42.9% and 33.7%, we read in the report.

“It’s partly due to dematerialization”

“It is a slow evolution which is being confirmed and which is increasing from year to year”, confirms the president for Orne/Calvados Laurent Courcol:

The complexity of the procedures for accessing social rights deters vulnerable people from claiming them. This is partly due to their dematerialization but also to the concomitant absence of “living” interlocutors to whom to explain or justify a situation. The complexity of the controls is not to be outdone.

Invited to testify, two precarious people, two women, testified to the incredible situations in which they found themselves trapped: overpayments to repay illico presto when you live (?) with 320 € per month or repeated “random” checks which end up throwing you at the bottom of the hole: “ I wouldn't wish anyone to experience what I experienced.», confides one of them.

“We first try to restore people’s rights”

Laurent Courcol, recalls the role of the association: “the principle of Secours Catholique is law before charity. We first try to restore people to their rights . There is therefore contact work with the institutions but we encounter the same difficulties as the people we support to enter into dialogue with someone which answers our questions. »

The government had promised to reestablish good faith approaches and to show goodwill towards those administered. This promise was not kept. Kindness means not interrupting the payment of a service before having established contact with the person.

Faced with this observation, the Flers town hall has tried to provide an answer by taking an initiative that will perhaps reverse the trend.

In July 2023, selected as part of a call for projects for the experimentation of a zero non-recourse territory, the City (the only one in Normandy) is in consultation with France Travail, the CAF, the CCAS and the CPAM to enable any eligible person to obtain their social rights.

The watchword is simplification of procedures and “go to the public» after an overview of all the social rights to which people can claim.

It is with this in mind that Secours Catholique invited their representatives to take the floor to present the first results of their joint work based on cross-referencing data.

It is therefore a mixed annual report but one which bears fruit. Conclusion of Laurent Courcol: “we musthumanize social protectionto truly create society.”

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