Disability: why such delays in the processing of files?

For people with disabilities, and their relatives, the speed of case processing varies greatly from one department to another.

One of the reasons for these dysfunctions lies in the organization of the Departmental Houses for the Disabled (MDPH).

Some are very dynamic, others less.

Some are crumbling under files, others are not, and could go much faster.

Some are computerized, and others barely.

But this data was not made public.

Faced with this situation, the Secretary of State for the Disabled, Sophie Cluzel, took the initiative, with Dominique Bussereau, President of the Assembly of French Departments, to create the first "barometer" of the MDPHs.

From this Thursday, by simply clicking on a link, people can immediately see what are the processing times for cases in their "house" of reference ... and in other departments.

Paperwork factory

According to the table of deadlines, which we publish exclusively, we can see that there are large differences, for example between Seine-Maritime, where it only takes 3.2 months to be granted a compensatory disability benefit and l'Aube, where it takes more than 10 months!

Another telling example: an orientation request file for children in an establishment takes 3.5 months "only" to be processed in Val-d'Oise, against 7.5 months in Hauts-de-Seine… L he objective of this government “transparency” operation is to move the lines and speed up responses, by creating competition.

Created by the 2005 law on disability, these 104 houses, managed by both the departmental councils and the state, have since seen their activity increase by 170%.

A one-stop shop for families, which has gradually turned into a paperwork factory, overwhelmed by 4.5 million annual requests, ranging from the renewal of the disabled adult allowance, to the parking space, through multiple referral files to a particular medico-educational institute.

The large disability associations have often observed that the system is sluggish and congested ... to the detriment of disabled people and their families, who sometimes can no longer wait for an answer to their questions, however concrete and urgent.

The results of satisfaction indices, department by department, are also put online.

The Minister's objective, with this “transparency” operation for the general public, is to boost a somewhat opaque system, and to put pressure on certain administrations that are too slow, so that they respond more quickly to the user.

One thing is certain: the system must be improved!