Nearly 5 million beneficiaries are affected by this measure which should further dampen their purchasing power.
For many families, family allowances constitute valuable daily assistance. Granted from the second dependent child under the age of 20, these benefits vary depending on the household’s resources. For example, for two children, they can range from 37.77 euros to more than 150 euros per month, and this amount increases with the number of children. This financial support is designed to support parents throughout the growth of their children, in particular by helping to cope with the increase in expenses linked to schooling, activities or equipment, which often intensify as they enter adolescence.
However, from March 1, 2026, parents of teenagers will no longer benefit from the same benefits as before. A government decree will indeed modify a key component of this aid. The objective is to reallocate funds to finance the new birth leave, planned from the summer of 2026. Thus, to support young parents, the State will reduce the support provided to families whose children are older. This measure should allow the State to save around 210 million euros from 2026, and almost 1.2 billion euros by 2030.
Concretely, the reform concerns the increase in family allowances. Until now, families received a monthly supplement for each child from the age of 14. From now on, you will have to wait until your 18th birthday to benefit from it. This means that for four years (often high school), parents will have to cover the additional costs without this boost. For a household with modest incomes, this represents a loss of up to more than €75 per month per child concerned, i.e. a cumulative shortfall of more than €3,600 between the ages of 14 and 18. The increase will then be paid until the month preceding the child’s 20th birthday, if the child remains dependent.
Faced with this announcement, the reactions of family defense associations are clear. The National Union of Family Associations (Unaf) describes this decision as “very penalizing” at a time when expenses, particularly school expenses, are high. She also disputes the government’s argument, pointing out that the savings will far exceed the cost of the new maternity leave. For Unaf, this reform, implemented by decree to avoid a wide parliamentary debate, amounts to a virtual elimination of this aid, the cost of which would drop from 1.6 billion to only 300 million euros.
This reform marks a significant turning point in support for families, by moving financial assistance from adolescence to the beginning of adult life. If the State sees this as a rationalization of expenses, it places many parents before an unprecedented budgetary challenge for the years to come. They are therefore advised to anticipate this drop in income and actively explore other aid to which they may be entitled, such as school scholarships or local aid, in order to get through this period with complete peace of mind.
