Far from the heated debates in the Assembly on pensions, Elisabeth Borne presented Thursday, June 1, in Angers, her plan for early childhood, insisting on "equal opportunities", her marker at Matignon where she is trying to maintain despite the gusts, pushing the bar a little to the left.
In particular, she announced the creation of 100,000 additional childcare places for young children by 2027, with the aim of reaching 200,000 by 2030. "We are finally going to build a public service early childhood, which will provide every child with the same opportunities," she said Thursday. These new places will benefit from an "additional financial contribution" of 5.5 billion euros accumulated over 2023-2027, according to Matignon.
Developing childcare “is a barrier to employment that is rising, especially for women. This is the assurance that everyone will be able to benefit from a reception solution for their child, regardless of their income, regardless of where they live, "she said in conclusion of a national council Refoundation (CNR), where two mothers stood in the front row with their babies.
Childcare “is one of the most important obstacles, along with mobility, to access to employment. When a child arrives in a couple, it is often the woman who is forced to withdraw from the labor market, ”Elisabeth Borne had previously noted in an interview with Ouest-France posted online Wednesday evening.
For Cyrille Godfroid, Secretary General of the National Union of Early Childhood Professionals, this objective is "totally" unachievable: "How to create new places when there is already a shortage of 10,000 professionals to ensure existing places? “, he asks. Young children currently have 458,000 crèche places and 770,000 with childminders.
The government wants to strengthen the training of professionals. In particular, it intends to determine a common core of skills for all of them and to make the organization of pedagogical days compulsory. The executive also wants to strengthen the control of crèches and improve the system of feedback and monitoring of reports. He intends to create a "national information system" for this.
These measures follow an alarming report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS), which called for far-reaching reforms in the sector to better prevent abuse.
Creation of an observatory of early childhood professions, promotion campaign: the government has also presented measures to remedy the lack of attractiveness of these professions, "an aggravating factor as much as a symptom" of the difficulties in welcoming children, according to the IGAS.
"There are no concrete measures to remedy the lack of quality childcare and the shortage of professionals", deplores, however, Véronique Escames, member of the collective No babies at the deposit, which calls for demonstrations of the June 6 to request, among other things, salary increases. "If we revalue early childhood professions in terms of image and financially and if we take into account the arduousness, people will want to go there and stay," says this childcare assistant.
A consultation on the salary increase is underway, proposals are expected "soon". Currently, 49% of crèches lack professionals. Tensions are likely to increase with the retirement of 120,000 childminders by 2030.
The government wants to harmonize the rest to be borne by families, depending on whether they use a childminder or a crèche, from 2025. For the time being, the first option can be up to twice as expensive as the second. for families.
For single-parent families, financial assistance for childcare will be available until the child is 12 years old, and no longer 6 years old, from 2025 (a measure already voted in the 2023 Social Security budget for entry into force no later than 2025).
The ceiling for the tax credit for childcare expenses for a child under 6 years old has been raised to 3,500 euros, compared to 2,300 euros previously.
Municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants will become "organizing authorities" for the reception of young children, with the mission of identifying needs, informing families and building the offer. This provision will be included in the Employment Bill.
However, the municipalities do not have "the obligation to develop and finance these reception methods", points out in a press release the National Union of Family Associations (UNAF), which questions their real development.
An information and support desk for parents will also be set up in all towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants. For the UNAF, these "early childhood relays" respond to "a need of the parents", but "the question of the human, financial and legal means" of these structures nevertheless remains unanswered.
