Apprenticeship: towards a reform of the regulation of subsidies to training centers

2023-07-17 07:00:29

Posted Jul 17, 2023, 7:00 AM

Here we go again ! While France competences, the national institution which finances and controls vocational training, will ratify on Monday a new reduction in subsidies to apprentice training centers (CFA) the latter are not taking off. As for the first salvo a year ago, the criticisms are aimed at the government since this drop is the result of interministerial arbitration. With one difference: they are much less well founded, even if everyone agrees that the rules will have to be changed.

Since the 2018 reform, all CFAs receive a flat rate for each work-study student corresponding to their training, also called “contract cost”, supposed to cover educational costs and financed, incompletely, by the apprenticeship tax. The CAP training in basketry is set at 8,782 euros for example. The equation is simple: the more apprentices a CFA trains, the more subsidies it receives, and the more it covers its fixed costs and can therefore invest.

Barrage shot

The law requires France Competences to verify that these subsidies, the amounts of which are estimated by the professional branches, are as close as possible to the reality of the expenses of the CFAs analyzed thanks to their analytical accounts. It is this work of comparison that leads to periodic revisions with, in the background, the search for savings, the State having to absorb the deficits of the institution.

Last year, a first salvo was to lead to a drop of 5% on average, reduced to 2.7% after a barrage against the method. That which must be ratified on Monday results in a drop of 5%, still on average, and a saving of around 500 million, according to our information.

For the National Federation of CFA Directors, the Fnadir, the first levels of qualification will pay dearly, on jobs in tension moreover. And to denounce a race to the bottom at the level of vocational high schools whose teachers’ salaries are paid for by the State.

In a joint press release, Fnadir, Walt, Anasup and private groups denounced “planing blows which are repeated each year when inflation reaches nearly 14% and has a heavy impact on the finances of CFAs and schools”. The chamber of crafts, it has put forward “dramatic” consequences for its 137 CFA. All are calling for a freeze on the decline.

Grievances heard

These positions are in fact addressed to the members of these networks to show that their representatives defend them, failing to recall that their grievances have been widely heard for a year by the executive, according to our information.

Firstly, an independent audit carried out in the CFAs of these networks confirmed the merits of the analytical accounting work. Last year’s errors have been corrected. The drop is neither homothetic nor brutal: France competences started from the “contract costs” of 2021 increased by 10% to take inflation into account. When there was a discrepancy with the observed value, only half was deducted capped at 10%. Lastly, a commitment was made to set aside 10% of the margin of each CFA.

Unstable, too complex

“The contract cost must be paid as closely as possible to the reality of the expenses incurred by the training organizations and these regulations are carried out in an ongoing dialogue with them. Listening to their opinions, I laid down the two 10% rules to ensure a framework as close as possible to the right price and reassuring”, assures the Minister Delegate in charge of Vocational Education and Training, Carole Grandjean.

State, training centers and social partners agree on at least one point: the principle of contract costs remains relevant but the mechanism for updating their values, unstable and too complex, has had its day. Aware of the problem, the Board of Directors of France Competences on July 10 opened the door to an evolution that will take several months.