The Family Allowance Fund (CAF), the heart of the French welfare state, is in full thrombosis. It now takes at least 17 days for a file to be processed, months to receive social benefits such as APL, RSA, disabled adult allowance and of course family allowances. And the bugs are piling up.
The Drôme affair is emblematic. The administrative services were first victims of a unusually high absenteeism – the standards in this area in the social administration are however already quite high. Absenteeism which raged at the end of the year and at the beginning of 2022. Lack of motivation, meager salaries, real difficulties at work – CAF is at the forefront of the rise in precariousness – lack of requirements from the hierarchy: a good number of agents have gone from working from home to simply watching TV in their dining room.
In their defense, they are also victims of an incredible computer bankruptcy. The system is a disaster, which has been further increased by a recent reform of the APL. Remember, this is what is called with a barbaric name, contemporaneization. The aim was to send information on recipients’ income more quickly, so as to adjust the amount of their benefits in real time. On paper, great. In reality, a hell where administrative madness and network incompetence combine.
Distress situations
The reform has been postponed four times, for technical reasons. We changed the director, we called on the now famous consulting firm Mac Kinsey for nearly 4 million euros, but it was rather Mac who doesn’t know. Last fall, the national site even exploded, leaving access to all recipients’ confidential data.
This creates distressing situations. Many recipients have no resources other than what is paid by the CAF. In some neighborhoods, the frustration is such that it is necessary security guards at the entrance to CAF premises. This is the modern public service: agents on leave, computers that crash, files that pile up and security guards at the door to block users.
The Drôme CAF then found a surprising way to make up for its backlog in processing files: it decided to close ten days, until June 21because it is no longer able to process the flow of beneficiary files.
One solution could be to simplify the aids. Page 4 of the RSA form, you must report your resources for the last three months, by column. Net employee income received before seizure or withholding including CEC, CAE, CIE, CAVA, income from CIRMA or CAV, CUI, income declared to tax services excluding FRFE, ESAT guaranteed remuneration… To correctly complete the RSA application form , you would almost need a tax adviser.
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