Social assistance: the government will introduce nine months of residence in France to receive benefits

From January, you will need to live in France for nine months of the year to receive social benefits. Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal confirmed this Friday to Europe 1 that the government is going to limit living conditions for receiving social benefits.

Today, you only need to be in France for six months of the year to receive certain benefits, such as family benefits or the minimum old age. Another example: APL is paid for residence in France occupied for at least eight months a year, “except for professional duties, medical conditions or force majeure”, in accordance with the details provided by law.

The executive branch, in the voice of Gabriel Attal, confirmed its intention to join the most restrictive living conditions in South Africa, which require nine months of annual presence in the territory. This tightening of the rules has already been discussed during the pension reform debate. The government also supported an amendment by Senator L.R. Bruno Retaio that proposed this nine-month threshold for the minimum age of old age.

Comprehensive Plan to Combat Social Fraud

In addition to this new nine-month threshold, Gabriel Attal also announced the end of aid payments to accounts outside the European Union from 1 July. The announcement comes just days after Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire’s controversial remarks about sums stolen and sent “to the Maghreb or elsewhere.”

The Minister of Public Accounts admitted that if it is “estimated at eight billion euros a year”, the social security contribution fraud is difficult to quantify. This new tightening should be formalized in May, when the global plan to combat social and tax fraud promised by Emmanuel Macron during his last speech was announced.