Are self-employed workers entitled to additional training in France?

Reader question: Are there grants available for training for micro-entrepreneurs? M.G.

Yes. Assuming you have been generating some revenue, you have already been paying into a system entitling you to money towards training.

A part of your social cotisations is contri­bution à la formation professionnelle (at 0.1% to 0.3% of turnover, depending on sector), which builds up rights in a compte personnel de formation, a sum of money that can be used to pay for training.

This can be used only at accredited training centres – and be aware there are many fraudsters operating around this.

In a given year, you will usually accrue rights worth €500, and in total your account cannot accrue more than €5,000.

You can obtain an attestation from Urssaf showing your contributions are up to date, as some trainers require to see, including via your account at this site – if you have one: autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr.

You can also visit moncompteformation.gouv.fr and create an account (you will need your social security number) to check how much you are entitled to and training options.

Your contributions also go towards a separate fonds d’assurance formation run by a body that varies depending on work sector.

You can apply to this for help towards courses. For a profession libérale business, see fifpl.fr; for services, sales and industry, communication - AGEFICE; for artisans, fafcea.com. See also the new government website.

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