Many beneficiaries relied on this financial assistance to supplement their low income. However, the government decided to remove it.
In 2022, the government devoted 849 billion euros to spending on social benefits, or 32.2% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the latest figures from Drees, the ministerial statistical service. Whether it is young parents, the elderly, those with very modest incomes, those suffering from a disability, those who are unemployed… In principle, no one is harmed. Except when the State decides to eliminate certain aid…
This is the case of the solidarity allowance (ASS), which since 1984 has been intended for unemployed people at the end of their rights to supplement their income. According to Drees, at the end of 2021, 321,900 people were able to benefit from it under conditions (having worked at least five years out of the last 10 years before losing their job, and having income below a certain ceiling). Its amount is 18.17 euros per day, or 545.10 euros for one month and it also represents the main unemployment benefit under the solidarity system. A significant boost. But from now on, the people concerned will have to make do with active solidarity income (RSA). The news was made public on January 30 before the National Assembly. For economic reasons and to encourage the French to return to the job market, the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, announced the gradual abolition of the solidarity allowance (ASS). A measure which does not fail to provoke a reaction from associations.
Very bad news for thousands of beneficiaries, for whom the RSA will be less advantageous. Indeed, certain people who received ASS may not be eligible for RSA given that several resources are taken into account in the calculation of this assistance, in particular housing assistance. In addition, by 2025, it will be necessary to prove fifteen hours of activity per week to obtain the RSA which, remember, does not allow retirement contributions either. A double penalty therefore, which also affects a significant number of disabled people, who were until then entitled to the solidarity allowance in addition to the allowance for disabled adults (AAH).
According to the specialized site Faire-face.fr, there would be approximately “15,000 disabled people who combine AAH and ASS” who will be all the more harmed, because with this new reform, they will not have the right to combine the AAH with the RSA. And for good reason, the calculation of RSA rights also takes into account additional resources, including the allowance for disabled adults. A parameter which apparently was not taken into account by the government.