Millions to receive email as France changes benefits system
Pre-filled forms aim to simplify French benefit claims
The changes apply to two major Caf benefits
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Residents in France who claim certain benefits are to receive an email explaining recent changes to how their payments are calculated.
It will be sent progressively to around six million people who claim either RSA (Revenu de solidarité active) or prime d’activité, outlining changes that came into effect last month. Some claimants may have already received the email.
The email comes from the Labour Ministry – in particular from Minister Catherine Vautrin – on behalf of the caisses allocations familiales (Caf), and provides information about how declarations now come with information pre-filled about certain income.
This applies to both online and paper declarations, which since March 1 have contained more up to date information.
This aims to make benefit calculations more accurate and secure, as well as easier for claimants, as now they only need to confirm the information is correct instead of manually looking for and including it in their declaration.
You do not have to do anything after receiving the email, it simply informs you of the new structure.
Some income information still given manually
“From now on, the CAF will offer you a pre-completed declaration by recovering your income "at source" from your employers or from organizations that pay you,” the email says (translated into English by The Connexion).
“All you have to do now is check your declarations and click to confirm. Of course, you can always complete them if income is missing (for example, child support payments) or request a modification,” the email adds.
For those who declare with a paper version, they will need to double check the information included on their physical form is correct before submitting it.
Information on additional income (such as child support payments, donations etc) will still need to be declared in the usual manner for both online and paper declarants.
Note that declarations for other benefits such as those for housing and disability – aides personnelles au logement (APL) and allocation aux adultes handicapés (AAH) – are affected by the changes.
