This is a tough blow that is looming for thousands of seniors. From next month, the disappearance of an advantage automatically granted for years will hit nearly 350,000 people hard.
Starting this summer, many retirees will see their bills increase. Overnight, an advantage will simply disappear for an entire age group: until now applied automatically from the age of 70, only seniors over 80 will now be entitled to it. According to the latest figures from Urssaf, no less than 348,000 retirees will be affected by this budget cut, which is all the more severe as it does not concern an expense for comfort, but an essential daily need and the maintenance of autonomy.
According to the Social Security department, this abolition will save the State some 100 million euros. On the other hand, for the individuals concerned, this will turn into an increase of around 15% on a sometimes vital expense item: home help. From the housekeeper to the gardener, including of course the carer or even the nurse for example… A decree published on April 8, 2026 “modifies the age condition, from 70 to 80 years, to qualify for the benefit of the system of exemption from employer contributions for the remuneration of home help”. The government initially planned retroactivity to 1er January 2026, but the federations managed to postpone the application of this measure until 1er July.
In fact, this change radically transforms the remainder payable by the households concerned. Until now exempt from employer Social Security contributions (illness, old age, family allowances) up to 65 hours per month, these private employers will now have to pay them at the current rate. The impact on the portfolio will be immediate. For a home-based employee paid the minimum wage, for example, the additional cost will be around 2.15 euros gross per hour of work for the employer. Fepem (Federation of Individual Employers of France) even estimates that, for higher salaries, the gross increase could go up to 3.18 euros per hour of work.
Concretely, if you pay a housekeeper for 20 hours per month at the hourly minimum wage (i.e. 12.31 euros gross), the removal of this reduction will generate an additional cost of around 43 euros each month. Over a year, this amounts to an additional 516 euros. For a senior requiring more sustained assistance of 50 hours per month, the bill will suddenly increase by more than 107 euros, or 1290 euros per year. Fortunately, some “safeguards” remain to mitigate this financial shock: 50% of these new charges can be recovered via the tax credit, which will divide the real additional cost by two.
In the case of the examples cited above, this means a final increase of 258 euros per year for the person who employs help for 20 hours per month, and 645 euros for the person who needs 50 hours. Couples will be able to continue to benefit from the exemption if one of the two partners is over 80 years old, provided they provide the necessary supporting documents to Urssaf. However, some septuagenarians may also be entitled to it, provided they are beneficiaries of the Personalized Autonomy Allowance (APA), the Disability Compensation Benefit (PCH), a third-party allowance, a disability pension, a work accident pension or an old-age pension. For others, this news gives force to anticipate the home help budget more, or even to reduce it due to lack of resources.
