They can now receive this monthly assistance without their spouse’s income being taken into account. The AAH could be granted to 80,000 new beneficiaries, estimates the CAF.
It was a long-awaited reform by people with disabilities and the associations that represent them. Voted in August 2022, the deconjugalization of the allowance for disabled adults (AAH) comes into force on Sunday October 1. From now on, people with disabilities and couples will receive this assistance on the basis of their own resources. Their spouse’s income will not be taken into account to determine whether they meet the eligibility criteria, nor to calculate the amount that will be paid to them each month. “It’s good news that we’ve waited a long time for”, summarizes with franceinfo Arnaud de Broca, president of the Collectif Handicaps, which brings together 52 associations. We explain to you how this aid works, and what will actually change for its beneficiaries.
1 What is the Disabled Adult Allowance?
Created in 1975, the AAH is intended for people with disabilities of working age who have modest incomes. A single adult can thus receive it if they earn less than 11,656 euros per year, specifies the Family Allowance Fund (CAF).
To benefit from this aid, you must also prove a certain level of incapacity. It is guaranteed if it is 80% or more, which means that any professional activity is made permanently impossible because of the disability. People whose disability rate is between 50 and 79% can also receive the AAH if their disability is identified as being a barrier to access to employment, after an examination by the Departmental Center for Disabled Persons ( MDPH) referent.
If these conditions are met, it is possible to receive this aid at the full rate, which today corresponds to 971.37 euros per month, or at a reduced rate, depending on the beneficiary’s income.
2How many people receive AAH?
In France, at the end of 2022, the CAF counted 1,258,064 people benefiting from this allowance. Since 2016, the number of beneficiaries has increased by nearly 140,000 people, which represents an increase of 17.5% in six years.
The Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees) already noted an increase in the number of beneficiaries between 2011 and 2018. It put forward a possible explanation: the extension of the legal contribution period required to retire. Decided in 2014, it led people with disabilities approaching retirement age, who would have switched to the pension scheme for incapacity, to work longer and continue to receive the AAH. The allowance can be combined with a retirement pension, but only if the latter does not reach the maximum amount of the AAH, i.e. 971.37 euros.
3Why did you deconjugalize this help?
The individualization of the AAH should guarantee higher income and therefore better financial independence for people with disabilities. According to government calculations, beneficiaries of this reform will receive on average an additional 350 euros per month.
The old calculation of the AAH, based on household income, reinforced the financial dependence of people with disabilities on their spouse. Some people could find themselves restricted to a reduced rate, or even deprived of this allowance, even though they received no income of their own.
They were then placed in a situation of dependence on their spouse’s income, with particularly serious consequences in cases of domestic violence. “Disabled women whose resources were diminished could even less easily escape the home,” underlines Arnaud de Broca. In 2014, a report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, cited by the Senate, estimated that 34% of disabled women had suffered physical or sexual violence from their partner, compared to 19% for able-bodied women.
4How many people will benefit from this reform?
According to the CAF, 80,000 people could become eligible for AAH thanks to its demaritalization, and 40,000 people who already receive it, at a reduced rate, will see the amount of their allowance increase. In total, 120,000 people will benefit from this reform. This new method of calculation should shake up the distribution of aid beneficiaries: in 2022, the CAF recorded around 497,000 beneficiaries at reduced rate and 761,000 at full rate.
If a person with a disability, already a beneficiary of the AAH, earns more than their spouse, the old, more advantageous method of calculation will be retained, specifies the government, which promised that this reform would not “no losers”. According to the CAF (link to a PDF file), 30,000 people will thus avoid a reduction in their aid. On the other hand, the deconjugal calculation will apply to all new beneficiaries.
No action is necessary for people already benefiting from the AAH, to whom the CAF will automatically apply the new calculation method. On the other hand, people who become eligible for this aid thanks to the reform will have to contact the CAF. If the law comes into force on October 1, the first payment based on the new calculation, corresponding to the rights for the month of October, will be made in November.
However, for Arnaud de Broca, this progress should not mask the situation “complex” people with disabilities: The deconjugalization of the AAH is obviously a very good measure. But there is still a more global subject on the resources and purchasing power of disabled people which must be addressed.concludes the president of the Handicaps Collective.