Apprenticeship training centers worry about cut in funding

At the beginning of July, France Competences, the organization which manages the CFAs, had indicated that the sums paid to these structures would decrease by 5% in September 2022. They will drop by an additional 5% in April 2023.

Since 2020, the CFAs have been financed by companies according to the number of contracts signed, and the State has replaced the regions to complete this financing.

Since this reform, the accounts of France Skills have been in the red: the deficit, of 3,2 billion euros in 2021, could reach 5,9 billion in 2022, according to a report by the Court of Auditors in June, which is alarmed of "a financial impasse".

The main cause of this deficit is the funding reform combined with the explosion of young people entering apprenticeships, which has almost doubled in two years to reach the record level of 730.000 in 2021 and allowed an increase in the youth employment rate.

To make up for part of this deficit, the State had paid an exceptional subsidy of 2,75 billion euros in 2021. The sum granted for 2022 was reduced to 2 billion euros in the amending finance law voted in July 2022.

“We had already spent money on our recruitments since January,” Pascal Picault, president of the Federation of CFA directors (Fnadir), told AFP. With a budget established without knowing that the subsidies would be reduced, Mr. Picault fears that “some CFA think before opening” certain training courses at the start of the school year.

The drop in funding varies according to the sectors of activity, from 10 to 40% sometimes, assures Yves Hinnekint, director of the Talis business school and the Walt association, which brings together players in apprenticeship training.

Another concern put forward by Aurélien Cadiou, president of the National Association of Apprentices of France (Anaf): the CFAs risk lowering their expenses related to the quality of life of apprentice students (sports activities, renovation of boarding schools, etc.) and non-teaching positions.

The amending finance law voted this summer, on the other hand, provides for an envelope of 743 million euros for the extension of the exceptional aid granted by the State to companies for the hiring of work-study trainees - 5.000 euros for a minor, 8.000 for an adult -until the end of the calendar year. These aids are not covered by France Competences.

The Government hears the protests

The government has agreed to review the funding cut planned for September for certain apprenticeship contracts, amid strong protests during the summer of apprentice training centers (CFA), the Ministry of Labor said on Wednesday.

In early July, France Competences, the organization that manages the CFAs, announced an average drop of 5% in the levels of support for apprenticeship contracts.

But, on certain training courses, the drop in funding could reach up to 30% according to CFA officials who had sounded the alarm and feared that they would not be able to open certain sections in September.

"Corrections must be made on 275 of the 3.289 certifications (...) following verifications carried out by France Skills at the request of professional branches and CFA networks" and "at the request" of the Ministers of Labor Olivier Dussopt and of Vocational Training Carole Grandjean, said the ministry in a press release.

"We have been heard in the short term," rejoiced with AFP Pascal Picault, president of the Federation of CFA directors (Fnadir).

"This decision was taken after a meeting on Monday with all the players and I think that in the future the CFAs will be consulted more," he said.

The Fnadir did not, however, win its case on the postponement of this reduction, which will apply to all apprenticeship contracts concluded from September 1 (or October for those which will be corrected) "while the budgets are already established", regretted Mr. Picault.

Fnadir also remains opposed to the second 5% cut currently planned for April 2023.

The decrease in the coverage of these contracts results from the 2018 reform on apprenticeship which has undertaken to gradually bring the level of the subsidy closer to the fair price of training, explains the delegate ministry in charge of education and professional training.

The accounts of France Skills are also in the red: the deficit, of 3,2 billion euros in 2021, could reach 5,9 billion in 2022, according to a report by the Court of Auditors in June, which was alarmed of "a financial impasse".

The main cause of this deficit is the funding reform combined with the explosion of young people entering apprenticeships, which has almost doubled in two years to reach the record level of 730.000 in 2021 and allowed an increase in the youth employment rate.