Lhe campaigns for the presidential and legislative elections are now behind us, and it must be noted that one theme was totally absent: support for the elderly. Advancing in age has only been seen from the angle of pensions to be paid, and so it is the retirement age that has focused attention and animated the debates.
Life expectancy continues to increase, but advancing in age also means increasing the risk of losing part of one’s autonomy and of needing assistance with acts of daily living. The health crisis has highlighted those who, on a daily basis, accompany the elderly or disabled in their homes.
Like the caregivers, we applauded them and praised their dedication, their availability, their humanity. As with other professions, we have all become aware of their insufficient wages. The State, in a desire for recognition, has decided to overhaul the conventional salary scale which has applied since 1er October 2021.
The central role of associations
The measure was justified, but our technocratic elites have misjudged the economic implications of this measure for the departmental councils and the structures that provide home help. Help for the elderly and the disabled is essentially provided by locally established associations. Today, this associative sector is in deep financial crisis.
More than two-thirds of their activity is linked to aid plans financed and priced by the departmental councils. However, the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA) has enjoined the departments not to modify their pricing, while asking them to grant exceptional grants which do not always or often arrive late. The 2021 rates therefore apply.
The increase in wages linked to the overhaul of the salary grids is accompanied by an increase in payroll charges, increased in some cases by the loss of certain exemptions from charges, in connection with the inflation of the wage bill. Concretely, for the associations, this means that each intervention is paid for less than what it actually costs. The difference is in euros…
The sustainability of home help associations threatened
What company would work for several months losing money each time it produces a service or a good? Well, this is what has been imposed, since October 2021, on associations helping the elderly and disabled. Many are obliged since that date to dip into their financial reserves every month to ensure the payment of salaries.
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