The CAF payment in February may have a (good) surprise in store for you

Every month, aid paid by the Family Allowance Fund (CAF) and the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) gives a boost to the most modest households. Their amounts change regularly, as do the resource ceilings for receiving them. And this is precisely why the payment on February 5, 2025 will be different from the previous ones.

Why your aid amount may change

Traditionally, aid is revalued on April 1st. But it's different for the resource ceilings: these change on January 1st. At the start of 2025, those of many schemes have been increased by 4.8% (note that it is the income for 2023 which is taken into account this year). This is the case for benefits dedicated to families, such as family allowances, the birth bonus and the adoption bonus, the family supplement, the basic Paje allowance or even the back-to-school allowance. (which is paid once a year, in August).

Thanks to this revaluation, certain people who were not entitled to aid will now be able to benefit from it. And others who already received them will perhaps change category and be entitled to a greater boost. This may particularly concern people who receive modulated aid because their income slightly exceeded the ceilings. With this change, they will perhaps fall within the limits, and therefore receive the traditional amount and not the increased amount.

This change in the ceilings for receiving aid may represent good news for certain benefits. But some may be in for a nasty surprise if their income has increased between 2022 and 2023, because they may then exceed the thresholds. Conversely, if their resources have decreased, this could entitle them to aid or allow them to benefit from more significant aid.

Why does this change only take effect in February?

The fact that the change is applied during the February 5 transfer while the ceilings changed on January 1 may surprise some. However, this is completely normal: aid is paid with a one-month delay. Thus, in January, those to which beneficiaries were entitled in December 2024 were paid. In February 2025, those they can benefit from in January 2025 will be paid.