Is the Poitevin Larnay-Sagesse de Biard association threatened?

The collective “Sauvons Larnay-Sagesse” demonstrated this Tuesday, November 19. The association which manages three reception establishments for people with disabilities in Biard is in serious financial difficulty, like several organizations in the social and solidarity economy.

“It is our survival that is at stake, that of the 170 employees and 106 residents!” The emotion is palpable in Brigitte Pauliat's voice. This Sud-Santé educator and union delegate, employed by the Larnay-Sagesse association, is concerned about the future of the accommodation facility for dependent elderly people with sensory disabilities (Ehphsad) and its nursing homes. She demonstrated this Tuesday, November 19, 2024 between Biard and the Vienne departmental council to ask for additional funding.

It is our survival that is at stake, that of the 170 employees and 106 residents!

Brigitte Pauliat

educator-union delegate SUD Santé of the Larnay-Sagesse Association

The budget of the Larnay-Sagesse association has been in deficit since 2022 (-€364,000 in 2022 and -€554,000 in 2023 according to our colleagues at 7info). Even if last year, almost €200,000 in exceptional credits and “non reconductibles” had been allocated by its financiers, it would today be on the verge of ceasing payments, according to the leaflet from the inter-union Sud-CGT-CNT-Les Broyeurs du Social.

The causes put forward are the increase in energy and food costs and insufficient resources : “It’s been chronically underfunded for years” explains Bertrand Blondeau, spokesperson for the employee collective “Larnay-Sagesse in danger“. “Management did everything it could to reduce the costs over which it had control, but it has reduced so much that today we arrive at wages and daily prices over which it has no control. no hand.”

All eyes are therefore on the decision-makers and financiers who are the Regional Health Agency (30%) and the departmental council (70%). “We must help us, because the contract of objectives and means signed in 2018-2023 is completely outdated!” explains Brigitte Pauliat. This contract which defines the funding and its use within the structure no longer covers the costs.

In Biard, the Larnay-Sagesse association manages three structures. The accommodation facility for dependent elderly people with sensory disabilities (Ehphsad) is a unique place in the region. It welcomes elderly people suffering from deafness, blindness and also behavioral disorders. The medical reception home welcomes 44 people aged 20 and over suffering from sensory disorders and multiple disabilities. There is also a living center for independent young adults. The hundred residents come from forty departments, which makes management complicated. “It is the patient's departments of origin which must pay us the allocation. We are in particular difficulty, because of departments no longer paying” explain Brigitte Pauliat.

We are asking the department to first ensure its prerogatives, that is to say, social financing.

Bernard Blondeau

spokesperson for the collective “Larnay-Sagesse en danger”

Although financing is complicated, the needs are real and so important that management is seeking to recruit 12 employees. The use of temporary work places an even greater strain on the budget of this historic institution created in 1833 for the reception and education of young deaf girls.

17,500 jobs threatened in New Aquitaine

The Larnay-Sagesse association is not the only one in difficulty. The Poitevine Association for the Safeguarding of Children and Adolescents (ADSEA 86) or the departmental federation of social centers of Charente-Maritime have also sounded the alarm in 2024.

Already weakened, all actors in the social and solidarity economy fear the consequences of the adoption of the finance bill (PLF) and the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) 2025. “The cumulative impact of budget cuts for the ESS is estimated at 8.26 billion euros, which will have direct repercussions on employment and local services” explains the Union of Social and Solidarity Economy Employers in a press release.

Bertrand Blondeau, spokesperson for the collective “Larnay-Sagesse in danger“, appeals even more to the Vienne departmental council: “We know that budgets are falling. In these cases, we have to make choices. We ask the department to first ensure its prerogatives, that is to say the financing of social issues.”

In New Aquitaine, the 22,600 Social and Solidarity Economy establishments employ around 220,300 employees, or 12% of employment in the region. According to UDESS (the Union of Social and Solidarity Economy), budget cuts could result in “the elimination of 17,500 jobs”.