Human contact ‘essential’ to navigate some French government services

A Senate report examining how French citizens interact with government services has shed new light on the operation – and possible future – of the France Services network, which provides face-to-face help with administrative procedures.

It has 2,800 offices in France, with the ultimate aim that no one in France should be more than 30 minutes’ drive from one.

The network was established following a countrywide consultation launched by President Emmanuel Macron after the gilets jaunes protests. The protests were in part attributed to the closure of many local services, particularly in rural areas, in favour of online forms.

Senators, working under a formal, five month long mission d’information, found 44% of French people said they had experienced problems while trying to fill in government forms online.

“Services have improved tremendously, and are still improving, but there remain problems and cases which the online forms cannot cope with,” Senator Gilbert-Luc Devinaz (Parti Socialiste), who was president of the mission, told The Connexion.

“We know that for some people having face-to-face contact is essential.”

The Senate study found that the issue was not limited to older demographics, or to people who have difficulty with computers: a quarter of 18-to-24 year-olds also said they had problems.

The majority were worried they would make a mistake when filling in online forms.

When people sought help, 43% did so via the telephone, 32% online, 15% face-to-face either at government offices or through France Services, and 10% wrote letters.

“People said they turned to the telephone when it became obvious that their specific situation did not fit neatly in the spaces on online forms,” the report claims. 

“Human contact is essential to get round drop-down menus which are not designed for complex cases.”

Although phoning was the most popular way to navigate problems, senators identified numerous issues including long waiting times to talk to someone, the impossibility of speaking to the same official twice, and a feeling among users that call handlers did not have answers and were simply improvising solutions which did not work.

Among those seeking help via France Services, the top five problems in 2024 concerned France Titres (the body dealing with ID cards, passports and vehicles registrations, 21%), pensions (18%), CPAM (the body dealing with health service entitlement and repayments, 16%), CAF (social benefits and financial aid, 13%); and DGFiP (tax issues, 13%).

Urssaf, the body charged with collecting social security contributions, was not included in the 2024 figures, having only recently been included as a France Services ‘partner’. However, it is expected to be a major source of queries.

'Lost in the paperwork jungle'

All the bodies concerned with 2024’s top queries have moved online – a decade ago their contact with the population was mainly through letters and with offices open to the public for queries and payments.

Other France Services ‘partners’ include France Travail (unemployment allocations and job centre), La Poste, Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA for farmers’ social and health questions), Point Justice (legal queries) and France Rénov’ (grants for housing renovations to improve energy efficiency).

The senators recommended that a special branch of France Services be set up to help French people who are returning to the country after working or living abroad.

During public hearings, senators heard how these returning French citizens often felt completely lost in the online paperwork jungle. 

Other recommendations include putting more France Services offices in deprived urban areas, extending mobile units for small villages, and setting up more offices in mairies and prefecture/sous-prefecture buildings.

The last measure will help spread the cost of the service, with mairies, communautés de communes and departments presently paying most into it.

In a hint that not even trained France Services agents can easily cut through red tape, the senators also suggested they be given priority telephone access when calling partner organisations with questions.

Senator Devinaz said another problem identified was people paying for services which they can do themselves for free.

“There is no reason why anyone should have to pay someone to change the carte grise on their car, when they can do it themselves for free,” he said.

There is no guarantee that the senate report will lead to concrete action – when it was published, France was without a government after the resignation of the Bayrou administration.

Senator Devinaz, said that MPs and senators could use the report to boost any parliamentary bills covering services to the public.