2023-11-08 20:27:28
Published on Nov. 8, 2023 at 6:50 p.m. Updated on Nov. 8, 2023 at 7:24 p.m.
The government is adjusting its approach to calculating the activity bonus. It will ultimately not take into account certain resources to determine the amount of this social assistance from 2024.
“This is good news,” reacts Florence Puget to the CFDT. “This will not be enough to avoid the problem that we will have at the beginning of 2024 when beneficiaries will see their activity bonus drop,” believes the trade unionist, however.
For several months, the CFDT and the CGT have been warning that workers with modest incomes could see their activity bonus drop when it becomes compulsory to calculate it from the “net social amount”.
Appearance in July
Appearing on pay slips last July, this amount must be used to calculate the RSA and the activity bonus from the start of next year. The idea defended by the government is to avoid declaration errors, which are the cause of numerous overpayments or undue payments. All while simplifying the lives of aid recipients.
With this reform of “solidarity at source”, beneficiaries of the RSA and the activity bonus should in fact see their declarations of resources pre-filled, from the first quarter of 2025. This will save them such tedious procedures. only regular according to the executive.
Dozens of euros down
For unions, however, the net social amount could often be higher than the resources previously declared by the beneficiaries of the activity bonus. At the risk of reducing this premium by several tens of euros per month, according to the CFDT.
The organization particularly pleaded for the net social amount not to include benefits linked to businesses, such as the employer covering part of the cost of provident insurance, protecting the employee and their family against loss of income, in the event of illness or serious accident, or even death.
“Edge effects”
” In [la] test phase, side effects appeared, relayed by the trade union organizations,” recognizes the office of the Minister of Solidarity and Family, Aurore Bergé, interviewed by “Les Echos.” It was therefore decided to no longer include in the social net amount the financing of welfare or supplementary retirement contracts, as revealed by “Ouest-France” on Wednesday.
“The ministry is in regular contact with payroll software publishers to enable them to adapt as quickly as possible,” indicates Aurore Bergé’s office. And to ensure that the deadline for generalization of the social net amount in January 2024 “will be respected”.
The precedent of the reform of housing assistance
According to the CFDT, these adjustments will not prevent low-income workers from seeing their activity bonus drop. Because the net social amount should not take into account meal vouchers or employer assistance to help with childcare, in the eyes of the organization.
Certainly, certain resources were already supposed to be declared today by beneficiaries. However, if they were not, it was in good faith, we explain to the CFDT. “Good faith errors in past periods will not be taken into account in all cases where the instructions were not clear,” assures the ministry.
Not sure that this is enough to limit misunderstandings. “At the level of the CAF and our receptions, we are very worried about the incivility that this will cause,” estimates Florence Puget. The tensions caused by the reform of housing assistance (APL) are on everyone’s minds.
#Activity #bonus #government #limit #side #effects #reform