What is resignation-retraining?

Resign to change jobs or start your own business, while benefiting from unemployment benefits. It is possible, under certain conditions.

Laurence Bellony decided one day to change her professional life. She was a food engineer at Coca-Cola for 13 years. Today, she has set up her business, she sells birth gift boxes. To carry out this project, Laurence went through “resignation-retraining”, a fairly recent system, and little known to the general public.

It was created at the end of 2019, as part of the law to choose your professional future. It allows employees who have a real retraining plan to resign and receive unemployment benefits. It is a safety net to promote professional mobility. But the law has put in a lot of conditions and safeguards.

franceinfo: What safeguards or conditions?

Sarah Lemoine: First, it is only aimed at permanent employees. Those from the private sector, of course. In the public sector, only agents who have a private law contract and whose employer contributes to unemployment insurance can use it. Which excludes a lot of people.

Then, you must have 5 years of continuous seniority, that is to say without sabbatical leave or without pay during this period. You must have a solid reconversion project. Finally, there is a route to follow.

Don’t we start by resigning?

Especially not ! You must first contact a CEP, a professional development advisor. It’s free, but obligatory. He is the one who will support the project, helping it mature if necessary.

The employee will then present this project in his region, to the Transition Pro commission, the only organization authorized by the State. She will see if he holds up, if he is “real and serious”. If it gives the green light, the employee can resign, register with Pôle emploi and apply for unemployment benefit. The amount is the same as in the event of dismissal.

Does it work ?

After a sluggish start, due to the health crisis, the momentum is there. This year, between January 1 and the end of October 2023, 19,635 applications had already been submitted and validated by a regional commission, throughout France. This is 15% more than last year.

20% of beneficiaries are over 45 years old. It is therefore an interesting retraining system for seniors, in the context of the increase in the retirement age. Especially at a time when the conventional rupture is in the government’s crosshairs.