Why Solidarity at Source Can Strengthen Beneficiary Monitoring

Today in France, more than 30% of people entitled to CAF aid do not use it, mainly due to lack of information. A particularly alarming situation that prompted the establishment of solidarity at the source. That’s about it “Major Social Reforms” Purpose to change the method of payment of social assistance.

According to Gabriel et al, solidarity at source aims to simplify and subsequently automate the processes of those entitled to social benefits. The principle is that everyone is informed of the support they are eligible for without having to check their eligibility and without having to go through often long and tedious processes. Finally, “DAs soon as you get the benefit, a certain amount of public assistance will be paid to you automatically. The administration knows your situation and your eligibility. You can directly access it without doing any complicated administrative procedures”LREM deputy Laurent Saint-Martin explained as quoted by Radio France.

And to achieve automation of payments, the entire social assistance system must be reformed. According to the Prime Minister, the first step is planned for this summer. ” We will allow a request form to be automatically pre-populated with information available to the state, for a certain number of social benefits. This is a very important first brick for unity at the source which is the system we want to reach at the end of the mandate. », stated, last February, at Gabriel et al. France 2.

If this election promise of Macron is for social assistance as a means to reduce the non-shelter rate, the organization for the defense of the rights of freedom on the Internet, net quarter, which previously condemned the algorithm used to fight social fraud, sees it as another tool to monitor CAF beneficiaries.

CAF database “Provides monitoring capabilities »

” From now on (with unity at the source, editor’s note), the CAF algorithm will benefit from “real-time” access to the financial resources of all 12 million beneficiaries (salaries and social benefits). », warns the association in a report published on March 13. According to the latter, “ The CAF algorithm will be powered by a large database (…) This database, created in 2019 during the implementation of the “modernization” amendment of APL7, is updated daily, and offers unparalleled beneficiary monitoring capabilities. “

As a reminder, this is not the first time that organizations have criticized the methods used to reform the social assistance system. In addition to Quadrature du net, many other organizations including foundations Abbe-PierreATD the fourth world Or the Human Rights League, opposed the datamining method used by the Family Allowance Fund to fight social fraud. In an open letter, they urged the Prime Minister to review the algorithm, which was described as discriminatory against the most vulnerable beneficiaries.