“I dare to hope that there will be a return on this decision,” declares its president

The fund for the professional integration of disabled people is financed by penalties from companies not hiring enough. The announced budget cut represents “a fifth” of the budget of the association which manages it.

“I dare to hope that there will be a reversal of this decision”declared Monday October 14 on franceinfo Christian Ploton, president of Agefiph, the Association managing the fund for the professional integration of disabled people, whose allocation will drop by 20%, according to parliamentarians.

The association is financed by penalties from companies not hiring enough employees with disabilities. In the 2025 draft budget, the executive plans to set a ceiling and recover the surplus, i.e. 100 million euros. “I actually didn’t imagine being confronted with such news,” reacts Christian Ploton. This budget cut represents “a fifth of our budget. This is an unprecedented reduction in actions to support disabled work”, he emphasizes.

Christian Ploton does not understand this decision, the “consistency” eluded him more than a month after the Paris Paralympic Games. He thought “that the inclusion of people with disabilities had reached an unprecedented milestone”. Furthermore, the Prime Minister has made mental health the government’s priority.

In 2023, 200,000 job seekers with disabilities found employment and job retention increased by 4% in one year. 2024 should confirm this trend. “I am convinced that no one wishes” in government “that the dynamic thus far engaged does not come to a halt”, believes the president of Agefiph who wishes to stay “optimistic”.

The Ensemble pour la République group tabled an amendment against the budget cuts imposed, as part of the finance bill, on Agefiph. When the government was formed, there was no ministry dedicated to disability. It was after numerous protests that Minister Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq was appointed: “We are currently working with the ministries, including the ministry of Mrs. Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq. The objective is to find an adequate solution to this situation. The ministries were put in place late. I am not sure that they were completely involved in the decision which is found in the finance bill”, tempers Christian Ploton. He says he has “confidence in the commitment of the Prime Minister to people with disabilities” and hear “pursue a relationship of trust with the State, with Agefiph having all the means to support public policies”.