The Covid-19 crisis, and especially the APL reform last year, have lengthened the processing times for applications. But the situation is improving, assures the National Fund.
«I was told that my application for APL and Paje (young child care benefit) would be processed within three months“Blows Jérémy, 26 years old. Like this single father of a little girl, some recipients of the CAF (family allowance fund) deplore long delays in the payment of certain social benefits, APL (personalized housing assistance) and RSA (active solidarity income) specifically.
Read alsoDivorces: the CAF simplify the payment of alimony
According to the Director General of the National Family Allowance Fund (CNAF), Nicolas Grivel, contacted by Le Figaro, the average file processing time, excluding social minima, is currently 16.5 days nationally (14 days for the social minima of RSA and AAH). “But this delay incorporates very different situations“, concedes Nicolas Grivel, which can vary enormously depending on the complexity of the files and the geographical area. “In metropolises and conurbations, the requests are more numerous, and therefore it is more often in these territories that we find the most degraded situations“, reports the director general of the CNAF.
The various CAF are transparent and publish their file processing times on their website. We note that the Paris CAF is currently processing emails arriving between February 28 and May 5, requests for RSA and AAH (disabled adult allowance) arriving between March 28 and May 10, and the others requests that arrived… between November 15 and December 24, 2021, i.e. between five and six months ago. In comparison, the CAF du Var is in the process of processing files that have simply arrived since the beginning of the month.
SEE ALSO – Minimum wage, CAF aid, tobacco prices… What changes on May 1
Read alsoCAF: the schedule of aid payments
computer bugs
These delays can put some recipients in difficulty, who by definition are people in need. Like Luma, 20, who will have to wait seven weeks to receive the first payment of the APL. “This delay will force me to at least halve my unnecessary expenses, and reduce the quality of my diet.“, laments the young inhabitant of Isère. And if that’s not enough to keep her budget, she says she plans to spend “on another less advantageous phone plan to pay less“. Jérémy, too, explains having topay much more attention to (one’s) spendingwhile waiting to receive the APL and the Paje. “All the prices go up, it’s hard to get by“, Slips the Vosges.
Although deadlines remaintoo long“, admits the CNAF, “the current trend is very positive», clarifies Nicolas Grivel. “We moved up to longer lead times in mid-2021 and early 2022“, he assures. The CAF suffered from the strong absenteeism of agents linked to the Covid-19 crisis, and above all had to take the reform of the APL “in real time“, which came into force at the beginning of 2021, which brought its share of computer bugs. “The anomaly rate has fallen to a lower level than before the reform, which contributes to the ongoing improvement in processing times“, welcomes Nicolas Grivel.
Read alsoAPL «in real time”: the reform takes hold
These difficulties have also added to the problems raised for many months already by the unions, which affect the agents of the CAF. These point to the deterioration of working conditions, linked to job cuts, and the lack of salary recognition. Several days of strike, national or at the level of local funds, have been organized in recent months to shed light on this situation. Which, ultimately, affects the recipients.
SEE ALSO – Purchasing power: Should family allowances be increased?