FOOD CHECK. Emergency food aid will be paid at the start of the 2022 school year to support the poorest households. Who is concerned ? What amount? We take stock.
[Mis à jour le 5 juillet 2022 à 15h09] Who will receive the food check? This is one of the main questions that should animate the next Council of Ministers concerning the purchasing power of the French. How to perceive it, on what criteria, what salary… The trend is starting to take shape! Indeed, the food check should already take the name of “emergency food aid“, easier and faster to set up. Then, the 9 million households the poor should benefit from. Are particularly concerned, the recipients of the RSA, theAAHAPLs andaspa. The amount will reach 100 euros, plus 50 euros per additional dependent child. The exact payment date is not known, but the bank transfer should take place at the start of the 2022 school year, in September without any action on the part of the beneficiaries.
The “food check” strictly speaking, it is finally not for now. Intended to promote local, organic and healthy products, it should be requalified as “helps to eat better“with the objective of allowing beneficiaries to eat made in France and directing them towards quality products. As this project is extremely complicated to set up (choice of products, beneficiaries, stores concerned, etc.), it is not not yet on the agenda. Hence the appearance of this emergency food aid to act quickly on the wallets of the French. The food check itself could therefore be distributed in 2023, in addition to the 100 euros intended for emergency food aid, paid at the start of the 2022 academic year.
This was the big question of this food voucher project. Who will be the beneficiaries? Emmanuel Macron had mentioned “lower classes” and “middle classes” on March 22, 2022 in an interview with France Bleu. What will be the criteria? Will there be a threshold of reference tax income not to exceed ? These questions remained unclear until June 29, 2022. During a trip near Nantes, the government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire confirmed the implementation of the food voucher, and mentioned the figure of 9 million beneficiaries among the most modest French people. In 2021, the Ministry of the Economy defended the idea that the system be entrusted to the municipal centers for social action (CCAS), thus targeting 5 million beneficiaries, a track also presented by the citizens of the Citizens’ Convention in their report. We would therefore be moving towards other criteria, to be specified when the project is presented on July 6, 2022 to the Council of Ministers.
Obtaining the food check should be conditional on the income level of the beneficiaries. Recipients of certain social benefits should in particular be concerned, such as beneficiaries of APL, RSA, AAH or even Aspa. Apart from that, the payment should be made automatically via a bank transfer without any action on the part of the beneficiaries. “Nothing is frozen“Assured government spokeswoman Olivia Grégoire on Thursday June 29 during a trip near Nantes, but the beneficiaries will be far fewer than the 38 million French people affected by the inflation bonus introduced in December 2021.
The implementation of the food check has proven to be more complex than expected for the executive and has seen several dates being brought forward over the months. Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said “hope to be able to present this measure in 2023″, evoking for his part a new inflation bonus of 150 euros, paid at the start of the 2022 school year. The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau had advanced a period: ” October November”. However, this period simply corresponds to the debates concerning the 2023 finance law. At the end of June, Olivia Grégoire, government spokesperson, surprised by presenting the beginnings of the system and finally confirmed a payment at the start of the school year, therefore in September 2022.
The amount of the food check was made official by Government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire during a trip near Nantes on Thursday, June 29. It will be 100 euro plus 50 euro per additional dependent child. A time announced around 60 euros, then at 150 euros, the government put an end to the suspense at the end of June, a few days before the presentation of the purchasing power bill, on July 6 in the Council of ministers.
The Fund of Family allowances does not currently allocate food vouchers on a national scale but could be the body responsible for this system, linked to the social aid it already pays. At the local level, certain food aid schemes can already be put in place. It is advisable to contact the social action department of your fund. On its dedicated site, the Caf de Saône-et-Loire notably highlighted the implementation of one-off aid in April 2020, in order to help the most deprived to buy basic food products. The system was then aimed at recipients of family benefits, APL, RSA and activity bonus.
The priority of Emmanuel Macron and his government is fruit and vegetables. And French if possible, from short circuits, and organic! Products qualified as “healthy”. This food check could be used in the supermarket or on the stalls of your local markets. The track of another device intended for organic products was also confirmed by Olivia Grégoire on June 29, 2022, the latter evoking a future “more qualitative food voucher to access organic, fresh and local products”.