TESTIMONIALS. In Val-d'Oise, beneficiaries of the Christmas bonus will take advantage of this aid “to put something under the tree”

This exceptional bonus is welcome at the end of the year, testify beneficiaries during a Secours populaire food distribution in Montigny-lès-Cormeilles.

An exceptional bonus to make the end-of-year celebrations a little more accessible. The Christmas bonus is paid on Tuesday December 17 to 2.2 million low-income households.

Georgette, in her thirties, will receive around 500 euros and buy a few gifts for once: “We're going to take advantage of it. We're going to buy books that may be missing or clothes like coats. We're going to manage and get small gifts. But the bonus is a little more to put something under the tree, otherwise It would have been complicated…”

The amount varies, from 150 euros for a single person, to almost 400 euros for a family of four. It is the recipients of minimum social benefits who can touch it. Like every week, Sarah comes to fill her cart at the Secours populaire in Montigny-lès-Cormeilles, in Val-d'Oise. This help will relieve her: “I have five children, it’s a bit complicated. With the bonus, we can do something. It covers a little for the month”she confides.

Difficult end of months, too, for Fabienne. She received a 228 euro bonus in 2023. She will give it this year to her student son and her grandchildren:“It completes it a little. With my grandchildren, all that is not easy… I divide it up, I give a little bit to each one.”

Sixty families are registered for this distribution in the municipality and almost a third will receive this bonus. “They don't have a lot of moneyexplains Dominique Conty, the general secretary of Secours populaire de Montigny-lès-Cormeilles. The holidays are coming, it will allow them to buy little gifts, make meals a little better and feel like everyone else, that's good.”

A bonus to please, explain the volunteers. This assistance is paid automatically without any action to be taken. The National Family Allowance Fund confirms to franceinfo that the Christmas bonus will be paid as planned, and despite the situation, to beneficiaries in Mayotte.