A bill provides that the AAH is no longer calculated according to the couple's income, but is individualized.
The government and the LREM majority are opposed to this measure, which has a consensus among the other parties.
Secretary of State Sophie Cluzel justifies the position of the executive in the name of the principle of national solidarity and the infeasibility of individualization.
Attention, sensitive subject.
This Thursday, the National Assembly examines again a bill providing for the "deconjugalization" of the disabled adult allowance (AAH).
Currently, it is calculated based on the couple's income.
However, as soon as the spouse of the disabled person earns more than 1,075 euros per month, the AAH gradually decreases, then falls to zero when the spouse earns more than 2,280 euros.
An unfair system for many associations, which ensure that a large number of disabled people give up forming a couple for fear of losing their allowance.
They also point to the risk of financial dependence on the spouse.
Driven by their mobilization, the Assembly and the Senate therefore adopted at first reading the individualization of the AAH.
Rarely, the left and the right voted in favor.
But not the majority (LREM and Modem), which intends to stay on the current system, with adaptations.
While the new passage of the text in front of the deputies on Thursday promises to be already stormy, Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State in charge of disabled people, explains her position to
20 Minutes
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The Assembly examines this Thursday the bill providing for the individualization of the AAH.
Many associations and groups of people with disabilities are in favor.
The left and the right also voted for first reading.
The government is against it.
Why ?
I would first like to remind you that the AAH is a social minimum which was created to ensure decent living conditions for people with low resources and who do not necessarily have access to employment.
Like any minimum, it is based on national solidarity, and more specifically on solidarity between spouses.
We have upgraded this service from 810 to 904 euros, which represents an investment of 2 billion euros since 2017. If we touch this, we are opening a breach that will have serious consequences: tomorrow, this individualization could concern all minimums social: the PLA or the RSA.
That is why we are opposed to it in principle.
The deputies who defend the reform believe that the AAH is not comparable to other social minima and that it is an individual benefit.
For you, the AAH is a social minimum like any other?
This is a minimum, but it takes into account the disability situation.
Often, the AAH concerns people who have already had a professional life and what I want is to succeed in supporting professional retraining.
Conjugalization protects the disabled person who works, because it allows him to benefit from a higher ceiling of resources.
I cannot imagine that a disabled person in employment could be the loser compared to someone who does not work.
If the AAH remains determined by the couple's income, isn't there a risk of financial dependence on the spouse, which could prove problematic in the event of violence, for example?
First of all, I don't reduce the couple to an area of permanent violence, I think we tend to focus a little too much on that.
The fight against this domestic violence is a fight that I have carried with the President of the Republic since the beginning of the five-year term, to allow the people concerned to get out of the grip, in particular via a network of specialized associations.
Today, it is also possible, for a disabled person who is a victim of violence, to benefit from an emergency procedure with the CAF, in order to quickly benefit from the AAH.
This request takes a maximum of ten days.
It is something that is effective.
I really want to reassure on this point.
In a demonstration last weekend, supporters of AAH reform accused the government of being "handiphobic".
Do you understand this criticism?
No, these are extremist accusations.
Take a look at my track record and you will find that I am anything but handiphobic.
Who gave back the right to vote to adults protected under guardianship, what associations had been waiting for thirty years?
Who gave back the lifetime allowance for people with an 80% disability?
Our government!
Will I be criticized for giving a package from the birth of the child when you are a parent with a disability?
I think people can blame me for things, but not for being "handiphobic".
Improving the situation of people with disabilities and demanding that society be more inclusive has been our struggle for years.
In addition, with 51 billion euros per year, France does not have to be ashamed of the way it takes care of people with disabilities.
According to the rapporteur of the text, individualizing the AAH would cost an additional 700 million euros each year, or 6% of the annual budget of 11 billion euros.
Does this expense seem too high to you?
It is not a question of budget, it is a question of feasibility.
What the advocates of individualization are proposing has not been worked out with CAF, which pays the allowances.
Computer, already, it is unmanageable.
In addition, this revision carried by the Senate proposes a right of option of ten years [the person could choose the method of calculating the AAH which would be the most favorable to him], which is discriminatory and legally fragile.
And I am not the minister of incantatory rights, but of real rights, which may apply.
So what are you planning?
We are going to review how the spouse's income is taken into account when calculating the AAH, so that it is more favorable and fairer. What we are proposing, with the majority deputies, is an evolution of the AAH which would allow an average gain of 110 euros net per month for 120,000 beneficiaries. And for a disabled person whose spouse is on minimum wage, this gain would increase to 187 euros net per month. This represents an additional budget of 185 million euros per year.
Our proposal also protects people with disabilities who work when their spouse is not working: this is the case for 30% of the couples concerned.
Take the example of a disabled person who would earn 1,750 euros thanks to his job, and who is entitled to 733 euros of AAH.
In the event of deconjugalization, the resource ceiling would drop and he would no longer be able to touch his AAH.
According to the rapporteurs of the text, your proposal will also cause losers, especially among couples with children ...
No, there will be zero losers.
We will implement an additional allowance of 1,100 euros per child.
For example, a couple with a child will have 6,100 euros of flat rate deduction on the income taken into account for the calculation of the AAH.
Today, the AAH is no longer paid when the spouse receives more than 2,280 euros per month.
Does the government plan to raise this ceiling?
For the moment no.
Our measure aims to be more redistributive and advantageous for couples with the most limited incomes.
We propose to keep the AAH at the full rate when the spouse's income goes up to 1,270 euros net, whereas today the AAH decreases as soon as the spouse's income exceeds 1,020 euros net.
Outside the majority, there is a broad political consensus to vote for the individualization of the AAH.
Didn't LREM miss an opportunity to go beyond the divisions?
Political consensus is built on false promises during an election period.
The left wants a social policy that directs money to those who need it most?
This is what we do.
The right wing spends its time teaching us management lessons while we are managing the country well.
Today, we must be realistic, it is not for nothing that this bill comes a few days before the departmental and regional elections.
Disability is exploited by a few political groups which did nothing when they were in government.
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