Activity bonus, why is the payment of the CAF not yet automatic?

Several households, eligible for several social aids such as the activity bonus, do not claim them. The government wants to fix it.

Each year, several French “forget” to claim social benefits which should be theirs. Several causes can explain this situation. However, the government has mentioned its desire to facilitate the process to access these aids . This is especially the case of the activity bonus which will be the subject of a report for its automatic dispatch. The project “solidarity at the source” by Emmanuel Macron , follows this perspective. What about these two devices?

Long-term work to facilitate the granting of the activity bonus

Emmanuel Macron's 'solidarity at the source' project aims to allow automatic payment several social benefits. Simply put, his program must correct the rate of non-take-up of these aids .

But the government's work to setting up a similar tool , are older. The Directorate General for Social Cohesion (DGCS) is already working on the specific report of a tool for automatic payment of the activity bonus. This document from government was established after the vote of an amendment to the 2022 finance law , in autumn 2021. In fact, this project and that of Emmanuel Macron are complementary, but independent of each other.

The amendment in question was contributed by Patrice Anato , LREM deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis.

“The government submits to Parliament, before September 1, 2023, a report setting out the state of play relating to the work carried out concerning the modernization of the delivery of the activity bonus and the development of tools for the automatic recovery of the declaratory data of the beneficiaries. . »

Originally, this report had to be submitted no later than September 2022 . But the final text of the 2022 finance law has pushed back the deadline for its submission by one year, i.e. September 1, 2023.

This same report relaunch of other work in progress . This is what Patrice Anato specified in the explanatory memorandum to this amendment. :

“In 2019, the government announced that the payment of the activity bonus could be automated from the year 2020. This development would constitute significant progress in combating non-recourse and simplifying the procedures for households benefiting from this benefit. . »

The challenge of automatic payment of the activity bonus

The payment at source of the prime of activity is a long-standing concern of the government . It is to fight against the non-use of aid that their beneficiaries do not claim .

A DREES study confirms that the non-recourse social benefits in France, is estimated at several hundred million euros per quarter and several billion euros per year.

In 2020, the CNAF developed a “qualitative study on the non-use of prime of activity”. According to this analysis, 3 reasons are behind this problem :

• “Ignorance of the activity bonus and a lack of information”.
• The absence of a request in the case of 'round trips in [eligibility for] the activity bonus'
• A direct cause specific to each household. This may be because of the daunting complexity of the procedures or the fluctuating and precarious variable incomes of some households.

According to Jean-Christophe Combe, “digitalization is good, but when you don’t fit into a box, it becomes a dehumanizing obstacle course (…) It is completely abnormal that 30% of people who are entitled to aid do not claim it . »

It is however unfortunate to miss the average amount of 181 euros activity bonus. This amount could be even higher in the coming months, thanks to the law on purchasing power or this exceptional revaluation of 4%. A further upgrade will take place in April 2023 to anticipate inflation.

This is why the DGCS report is very important . The DREEs recognizes that this “additional data, currently unavailable, remains necessary to estimate the non-use of the activity bonus. This document will highlight the feasibility of automatic data recovery from the granting of the activity bonus . Clearly, these investigations will be able to quantify exactly the rate of non-use of the activity bonus.

Automatic dispatch of the activity bonus and other social benefits also aims to fight against fraud on these aids . Such a device “will make it possible to secure the system and also to reduce the costs of recovering undue payments in the event of calculation errors”, according to Jean-Christophe Combe.

Why does the automatic sending of the bonus take so long?

For 2023, the finance law provided 4.54 million beneficiary households activity bonus. According to the sociologist and teacher specializing in poverty issues, Julien Damon, the automatic dispatch of aid should make it possible to “pay benefits adjusted to people’s situations” .

But the establishment of the sending of this type of device encounters some difficulties . The specialist added that 'going from a declarative and requesting system to an automatic system is a beautiful and strong idea, but it requires extremely substantial reforms in legal matters and the information system'.

According to Julien Damon, 'the idea is beautiful, but it's a construction site, it won't happen overnight'. It is a good thing that solidarity at the source and the DGCS report work separately. Given the magnitude of their impact, they can't wait for their mutual results .

The report schedule will always be maintained , despite the actions of solidarity at the source. Similarly, the experimentation of the solidarity at the source project in 2023 will therefore continue to progress even if such a report is not yet ready. Jean-Christophe Combe explained that an experiment will take place in 2023 as part of the solidarity at the source project . “We are going to appeal to the will of a dozen territories where we will mobilize all the actors concerned”, he announced.

The “zero non-recourse territories” that he mentioned, have not yet been specified. On the other hand, the practical results of the experiment are expected in 2025. However, the Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities affirms that it will be a progressive experiment .

“It is a complex subject that involves heavy technical work to harmonize resources and allow the recovery of data from employers and administrations,” he argues.

Source : Moneyvox