True or false. Will the Christmas bonus be halved?

Will the Christmas bonus be reduced? This is an avenue considered by the government to save money. This proposal must still be adopted by the National Assembly, except the left is against it.

Does the government intend to cut back Christmas bountyL ? In any case, this is what Manuel Bompard, the national coordinator of the Insoumis, said on franceinfo on Tuesday, November 4, while the draft social security financing law for 2025 is currently being examined by the National Assembly. “There is a measure which aims to halve the Christmas bonus. This is the bonus that is paid to people who are recipients of the RSA“, he castigated. As a reminder, the RSA is active solidarity income, intended for the most precarious without resources. For a single person, it amounts to 646 euros per month.

In reality, the government does not plan to halve the amount of the Christmas bonus. Contacted, Manuel Bompard tells us that he is talking here about the overall envelope which is used to pay this Christmas bonus. It’s true. According to the government’s initial project, it would increase, in 2026, from 400 to 200 million euros. This Christmas bonus, as the LFI MP explained, is a boost to all RSA beneficiaries. It is paid by CAF or France Travail to certain unemployed people. In 2024, 2.2 million households will be able to obtain it.

Not all beneficiaries are targeted by the government’s project. Households without children, and who therefore receive the RSA, are the only ones concerned. Jean-Pierre Farandou, the Minister of Labor and Solidarity, explained this on Monday during a hearing at the National Assembly. “On the end-of-year bonus, commonly known as the Christmas bonus (…) It is to refocus them on families with children“, he said. A little more1.2 million beneficiaries would therefore be excluded from the bonus.

For now, this idea is just a proposal. This is one of the avenues considered by Sébastien Lecornu’s government to make savings within the framework of the social security financing bill. The executive, as a reminder, is seeking to reduce the social security deficit and increase it from 23 billion to 17.5 billion euros in 2026. With this plan, it hopes to achieve 200 million euros in savings. But this proposal must still be adopted by the National Assembly, which promises to be complicated since the left, led by LFI, is already opposed to it.

Very important point, the 2025 Christmas bonus is not affected. It will indeed be paid next month, around December 15. It represents around 150 euros for a single person without children, 228 for a couple. Households with a dependent child benefit from an increase, which increases depending on the number.