why the proposal to introduce additional waiting days in the civil service is resurfacing

A report, commissioned by Gabriel Attal in February and published in early September, estimates that adding one or two days of unpaid work stoppage would generate savings of 174 million to 289 million euros per year.

Michel Barnier is facing a major challenge when he arrives at Matignon. The new Prime Minister and his government must submit the draft finance bill for 2025 to Parliament by Tuesday, October 1st at the latest, then the draft social security financing bill (PLFSS) by October 15th. And this, in a context of public finances worse than expected.

The public deficit could reach 5.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the year, instead of the 5.1% initially hoped for, according to the General Directorate of the Treasury. It would even widen to 6.2% of GDP in 2025 instead of 4.1%, if around 60 billion euros of savings were not made next year, the Treasury warns.

The situation looks particularly critical on the Social Security side. “The deficit in the health branch will probably be higher than the 11.4 billion euros expected by the Social Security accounts committee in June” And “should remain at a historically very high level”warned the general director of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), Thomas Fatôme, in an interview published Sunday by The Echoes.

“This financial situation is a matter of major concern which the next government and Parliament will have to address quickly.”

Thomas Fatôme, Director General of the National Health Insurance Fund

to the “Echos”

In an attempt to bring the public deficit below the European target of 3% by 2027, the French administration has multiplied the avenues for savings in recent months. In February, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal ordered the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) and the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) to formulate proposals for “reduce absenteeism overall, with particular emphasis on short-term absences”, in the public service.

Their report of nearly 300 pages, published on September 5, states that:“a general increase” sick leave since the Covid-19 crisis. In the civil service, the study estimates the cost of absences for health reasons at 15 billion euros in 2022, a year marked by a number of sick leaves at a level “historically high”The authors estimate that the number of absences amounted to 14.5 days per public agent in 2022 (11.7 days in the private sector), compared to 8 days per year over the period 2014-2019. If the upward trend “seems to have reversed” in 2023, in the public and private sectors, the Igas and the IGF nevertheless suggest several avenues for sustainably bringing this rate back to its level before the health crisis.

Among the proposals, the report recommends the introduction of one or two additional waiting days, i.e. days of unpaid work stoppage. The waiting day in the civil service was introduced in 2012 under Nicolas Sarkozy, before being abolished in 2014 under the presidency of François Hollande, then reinstated by Emmanuel Macron in 2018. According to the report, this return “has met its objective of reducing short-term shutdowns and has represented budgetary savings of 134 million euros in 2023 for the State budget.” A second day of absence for civil servants would bring in 174 million euros per year, and a third day – as in the private sector – would generate 289 million euros.

According to a note from INSEE, the reestablishment of the waiting day in National Education has indeed led to a decrease in the frequency of sick leave. But this does not mean that absences were previously necessarily unjustified, INSEE insists. “Indeed, the introduction of the waiting day can encourage sick people to work.”

The Igas and IGF report also mentions the possibility of reducing the remuneration of days compensated in the context of a short-term stoppage. Currently, with the exception of the first day of waiting, public sector employees are “paid at full salary” during the first three months of sick leave. The two organizations propose to reduce this remuneration to 90% of the salary, as in the private sector, even if, in fact, 70% of private sector workers benefit from continued payment of their salary by their employer at the end of their waiting days, the report recalls.

The reduction in compensation in the public sector would allow savings of 300 million euros in each of the three sectors of the public sector. (State, territorial and hospital), according to the study. That is 900 million euros in total.

Michel Barnier’s future team will be free to take up these savings options or not. In any case, they are already provoking the anger of the unions. “If this is one of the first measures of the new government, it will augur well for the atmosphere in the months to come.”predicts Christian Grolier, general secretary of the General Federation of Civil Servants-Force Ouvrière, to the Parisian. “On sick leave, civil servants already lose their bonuses from the first day of sick leave, knowing that these represent on average 24.3% of their remuneration. So wanting to reduce the salary by 10%” would be equivalent to “a loss of more than a third of their salary”the union denounces in a press release.

“Once again, these ideas are penny-pinching without looking for the causes: fatigue, lack of staff…”supports Natacha Pommet, general secretary of the CGT Civil Service, in the columns of the daily newspaper.

The publication of this report comes as the Director General of the National Health Insurance Fund has called for a global reflection for a “work stoppage compensation system more financially sustainable, but also fairer“including in the private sector. According to Thomas Fatome, 60% the increase in sick leave compensation costs is due to “an economic and demographic factor”. “Afterwards, we have 40% that we don’t know how to explain”he said on Tuesday on franceinfo. By the end of the year, the Cnam will get closer to “nearly 1,000 companies with more than 200 employees” who face significant absenteeism.