Financing your vocational training is not always simple: it can be expensive for the employee as well as for the company, and can occur at any time during working life. Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions to facilitate vocational training in your company: CPF, OPCO, AIF... Follow this guide!
The right to vocational training in France
Vocational training: what is the obligation for the employer and the company?
The right to vocational training is an individual right that contributes to the career development of each employee. This right is enshrined in the Law of 4 May 2004, reinforced by the Law of 24 November 2009, and finally by the Labor law of 8 August 2016.
The objective of these laws is to promote continuing education to develop the skills of learners and:
This right concerns absolutely all active people: employees, self-employed people, job seekers...
The responsibility of companies in the field of vocational training
Employers have two obligations towards their employees:
- Adapting to the workplace
- maintaining employment
To meet this obligation, companies and the HR department can draft a skills development plan that will include all the training offered to their teams.
The skills development plan, an essential part of vocational training
The skills development plan is a document that gives the employee the opportunity to follow the training system set up by his employer. It concerns all businesses, regardless of size!
As an employer, you must develop and then implement the skills development plan after consulting with employee representatives. Once this document has been written, your employees can assert their rights and ask to follow the training provided in it.
Financing arrangements for your vocational training plan (CPF, OPCO, Pro-A...)
CPF, CTP, AIF: easy to get lost with all these acronyms! What do they have in common? Facilitate the financing of vocational training.
Funding aid No. 1: the Personal Training Account (CPF) for all assets
The Personal Training Account (CPF) is the best known device to date. Any active person (employee, self-employed, temporary worker, etc.) contributes to their CPF and can then use this sum for the training of their choice. The CPF training catalog is very extensive and can meet all needs: classical vocational training, retraining, transition...
Funding assistance no. 2: Professional Transition Leave (CTP) for retraining
Professional Transition Leave (CTP) has replaced Individual Training Leave (CIF) since January 1, 2019. It allows employees to be absent for a certain period of time to complete vocational training in order to retrain. As part of this leave, the employee can continue to receive all or part of his salary.
Funding assistance No. 3: retraining or promotion through work-study programs (Pro-A) to finance one's professional development
Retraining or promotion by work-study (pro-A) complements the CPF system. Pro-A must be implemented at the initiative of the employee, especially if he wishes to retrain, evolve in his profession or obtain a professional promotion.
The care depends on the competence operator (OPCO) on which your company depends. It is he who will decide to take care of all or part of the educational, transport and accommodation expenses.
Funding aid no. 4: Individual Training Assistance (AIF) from Pôle Emploi
Individual Training Assistance (AIF) is a financing system for vocational training offered by Pôle Emploi to all job seekers, whether or not they are compensated. But this help does not apply to all training courses! Only those that have a link with the learner's professional project.
Funding aid no. 5: the Agreed Training Action (AFC) for job seekers
The Conventional Training Action (AFC) is also a device proposed by Pôle Emploi to facilitate access to vocational training for job seekers. Pôle Emploi buys places in certain courses, and offers them free of charge to people registered with Pôle Emploi who wish to train. These courses are certifying, qualifying and professionalizing.
Funding aid No. 6: the Unique Contribution to Vocational Training and Apprenticeship (CUFPA), a financial obligation for the employer
Always with the objective of facilitating access to vocational training, the employer is obliged to pay a Unique Contribution to Vocational Training and Alternating Education (CUFPA) each year.
This contribution is from:
- 1.68% for a company with 11 employees or more (1% for continuing vocational training and 0.68% for apprenticeships).
- 1.23% for a company with fewer than 11 employees (0.55% for continuing vocational training and 0.68% for apprenticeships).
The percentage is calculated based on the total sum of salaries and benefits (bonuses, benefits in kind and other allowances) declared by the employer in the previous year.
Since January 1, 2022, this contribution has been paid via the nominative social declaration (DSN) directly to URSSAF.
Funding aid no. 7: Competence Operators (OPCOs)
Competence Operators (OPCO) are organizations supporting companies in the implementation of their vocational training obligations. These OPCOs act on 3 branches:
- Apprenticeship
- the development of professional branches
- Assistance for VSEs and SMEs
Competence Operators (OPCOs) provide financial and technical support, and advise companies on all subjects of vocational training. They are approved by the Ministry of Labor under several conditions: their field of intervention, their financial capacity and their management performance.
Funding aid no. 8: the National Employment Fund (FNE-Formation) for financial support to businesses
The FNE-Formation is a support system for companies so that they can train their employees and remain competitive in the face of economic changes. Since Covid-19, this system has been revised to meet the needs of partial activity and adapt to businesses in difficulty or in transition.
