After the National Assembly in February 2020, the Senate voted on Tuesday March 9 at first reading in favor of a bill modifying the method of calculating the Disabled Adult Allowance (AAH).
The law proposes in particular the individualization of the AAH, that is to say its separation from the spouse's income.
A change in the calculation of the allowance requested by many associations but to which Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State for the Disabled, did not declare herself in favor.
Le Figaro
presents 5 points to understand what this law could change.
Read also: The health crisis complicates the professional life of the disabled
The AAH concerns 290,000 people in a couple
Created in 1975, the AAH is a financial aid paid on medical and social criteria, intended to ensure a minimum of resources for disabled people and to compensate for the inability to work.
More than 1.2 million people are currently beneficiaries, of which 290,000 are in couples.
With a maximum amount of 902.70 euros, it is calculated on the basis of any other resources of the beneficiary, and in particular takes into account the spouse's income in its calculation.
And when the household income exceeds a certain threshold, the AAH is no longer paid to the disabled person.
It is this point which is debated and which tends to modify the bill passed at first reading by the Senate.
Financial independence of people with disabilities
The separation of the AAH from the spouse's income has been demanded for several years by associations for the defense of the rights of people with disabilities and feminist associations.
According to them, the non-individualization of this assistance leads to a financial dependence of people with disabilities on their spouses.
In a press release dated February 14, the association Dare feminism!
considers it "
urgent
" to review the calculation of the AAH to allow "
the autonomy of women with disabilities
" and protect them "
against violence
".
APF France handicap also notes the possible “
conflicts
” and “
violence
” linked to this dependence resulting from the calculation of the AAH.
100,000 signatures for a reform of the AAH
A petition launched on the Senate's e-petitions site put the AAH on the upper house's agenda.
A disabled person who no longer receives AAH "
no longer has the pleasure of using it as he sees fit and must now systematically turn to his spouse to request all funding for his daily life
" can we read on the petition .
In less than 6 months, it obtained more than 100,000 signatures, which is the minimum required for a legislative text to be placed on the agenda of the Senate.
This is the first petition to have collected the necessary number of signatures.
196,000 winning households versus 44,000 losers
The Senate Social Affairs Committee therefore took up a bill for the Liberties and Territories deputies "
on various social justice measures
", including an individualization of the AAH, voted in the National Assembly at first reading in February 2020, against the advice of the government and the majority.
All the Senate groups decided in favor of the “
deconjugalization
” of the AAH on March 9, except the majority RDPI group En Marche which voted mostly against and the Independents group which largely abstained.
Contrary to the text voted by the deputies, the senators reintroduced the ceiling of the accumulation of the AAH with the own resources of the beneficiary.
Thus increasing from 20 billion to 560 million euros per year the cost of the device according to Philippe Mouiller, the rapporteur of the bill, interviewed by AFP.
The individualization of the AAH would make 196,000 winning households but also 44,000 losers according to the estimates of the social ministries reported by Philippe Mouiller.
This is why the Senate provides for a
10-year transitional
"
mechanism
" to allow losers to keep the current method of calculating the allowance.
"Questioning our principles of solidarity" according to Sophie Cluzel
For her part, the Secretary of State for People with Disabilities, Sophie Cluzel spoke out against this law.
It “
calls into question the heart of our principles of solidarity and redistribution,
” she believes, according to comments reported by AFP.
For her, "the
right articulation between national solidarity and conjugal solidarity can only work if the resources of the beneficiaries' household are taken into account
".
The bill now goes to second reading before the National Assembly.