Early childhood benefits in France

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• Early childhood benefits in France

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France and fertility

• With a fertility rate of 1.98 something of an
  exception in Europe and unusual in the developed
  world - France has attracted the curiosity of our
  friends abroad
• In France, "child costs" are offset by
  increasingly high expenditure on family policy,
  currently 3.8 of GDP (3rd among OECD countries)
• Through a combination of local government
  programmes, tax credits, old-age insurance
  contributions and multiple benefits, France
  devotes nearly 4.6 of its GDP to families
• France is one of the EU countries that offers the
  most generous childcare benefits for the
  under-sixes

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A comparison of fertility rates
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A comprehensive range of benefits for parents
raising children

• Actors family branch of the social security
  system (60 of all benefit provision),
  health/maternity/old-age insurance system, local
  government
• Tax measures
• Measures to balance work and family life
• High school-attendance rate

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Pregnancy confirmed
Income ceilings
PAJE birth grant 863 (means-tested benefit
paid in 7th month of pregnancy)
Support Sickness and maternity benefits
Baby born
Congé mère (16 sem), père (11 j)
garanties Dispositions conventionnelles
Retour à lemploi
Retrait activité
PAJE
Partly
Garde à domicile
Crêche , Subventions fonctionnement CAF et
Collectivités locales
Completely
135 to 407
1 year 766
Assistantes maternelles
3 years 536
Autres modes 177
Prise en charge rémunération selon revenus/age
enfant et 100 Cotis. soc. AM,50 GD
AVPF droits vieillesse
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Contributions to childcare costs
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Who looks after the under-threes?
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Who looks after the under- threes?
In families where both parents work full-time
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About the PAJE

• Principles...
• An "all-in-one" benefit
• and a simplied benefit system
• A more equal distribution of the cost burden of
  childcare
• Expenditure to income ratio 12 target
• Greater financial security for families
• More choice for families

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About the PAJE

• and policies
• An "all-in-one" benefit rather than a "single"
  benefit
• Extension of the basic allowance
• Creation of a 6-month parental leave benefit for
  one-child families
• For parents paying a childminder
• Larger share of cost covered by family fund
• Simplification of procedures

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Parental leave in OECD countries
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Those countries with high female employment rates
are those with the highest fertility rates!!!
A need to recognise that women want to
combine working and having children! Ideal
number in France 2.48
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Old-age insurance for parents who have stayed at
home to bring up children

• Coverage of contributions for old-age insurance
• 4.2 billion in 2006
• 8 of expenditure by the CNAF
• 1.6 million recipients

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Paternity leave

• 11-day paternity leave introduced in 2002
• For unpaid leave, same daily cash benefits as for
  mothers
• CNAF payments in 2006 248.5 million (up 8.2
  from previous year)

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Equality and agreement-based initiatives

• Collective agreements ensuring the right of
  parents to return to the same job after parental
  leave
• Measures to encourage sharing of parental
  responsibilities
• Developed-country initiatives to promote
  workplace gender equality
• Companies need to do more to accommodate the
  needs of working mothers

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Family policy and fertility

• French family policy is not "pro-birth". It
  simply aims to accommodate the desire of women to
  combine work and child rearing
• The traditional explanations for fertility rates
• Bigger families in northern France versus smaller
  families in the "Malthusian" south
• Bigger families among working classes
• Religious practices (less than 5).
• are less valid today
• So early childhood policies are important
• As well as choice for parents