The traditional Christmas bonus will be paid on Tuesday December 17, the government announced. That's five days later than expected. More than 2 million French people, recipients of minimum social benefits, will receive this automatic transfer into their bank account, as a boost for the end-of-year holidays. A tradition that has lasted for twenty-six years.
Who receives the Christmas bonus?
No action is necessary to receive this exceptional bonus, reserved for people who received social minimums in November and December. “All beneficiaries of the active solidarity income (RSA), the specific solidarity allowance (ASS), the flat-rate bonus for resumption of activity and the retirement equivalent allowance (AER) will benefit”detailed the Ministry of Solidarity.
The Christmas bonus is paid automatically by the Family Allowance Fund (CAF), the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) or France Travail. Its amount varies depending on the composition of households and will be the same as last year: around €152.45 for a single person and around €320 for a couple with two children.
The cost to public finances is estimated at nearly 500 million euros.
The Christmas bonus has never been indexed to inflation
This system to help the most modest households before the end-of-year holidays was created in 1998, under the government of socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The previous year, in 1997, unemployed people mobilized to denounce difficult ends to the month and asked for exceptional aid to be put in place before Christmas.
The idea of a Christmas bonus was born among groups of unemployed people in Marseille who made it a national demand. The demonstrators never obtained the 3,000 francs demanded, but Lionel Jospin agreed at the time to increase social minimums and grant a Christmas bonus of 1,000 francs to RMI recipients (ex-RSA).
Since then, governments are not required to pay this bonus each year, no obligation exists, but the gesture has become traditional. On the other hand, the amount of this free aid has never been revalued according to inflation in twenty-six years.
In 1998, the most modest households received around 1,000 francs, which would correspond in purchasing power equivalent not to €150 today, but to €229, taking into account monetary erosion due to inflation.
