ARE is a public benefit for job seekers who want to start a new project, whether as an employee or freelancer. The cool thing about ARE is that you can get this benefit while also earning income from your work.
The requirements vary depending on whether you are a private sector, public sector, or self-employed employee. This measure is intended to encourage business creation or takeover.
There are other schemes available for entrepreneurs: ARCE, ACRE or NACRE.
They are all tools that encourage business creation and the growth of independent work across the country.
Faced with the changes sweeping the labor market, encouraging individual mobility and transitions between salaried employment and entrepreneurship are among the priorities of the current government.
Let's explore together what the ARE (unemployment benefits for business creators) is, the conditions for receiving it, and how much you can get.
ARE is paid to people who involuntarily lost their job. To get it, though, you need to have worked at least 1 month before your last job ended.
It stops being paid when you return to paid employment or self-employment, in France or abroad.
The duration of payment of the ARE is equal to the duration of affiliation of the job seeker taken into account for the opening of his rights to the allowance.
If the person is under 53, this corresponds to the 28 months before the end of their contract.
If they are over 53 years old, the last 36 months are taken into account.
Whether you are over or under 53 years old, the conditions to meet to benefit from ARE are as follows:
- You must be considered involuntarily unemployed due to redundancy, dismissal, conventional termination, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, resignation considered legitimate, or for personal reasons.
- You must be registered with Pôle Emploi or be completing training as part of your personalized plan to return to employment (PPAE).
- You need to take positive and repeated actions to find a job again.
- You'll need approval from Pôle Emploi (the French job center), which will verify your eligibility based on your last job. The length of eligibility is calculated based on your age and the number of hours worked during the period considered.
Training periods are considered as working hours.
Periods during which the employment contract was suspended (for various reasons such as illness or a work-related accident, for example) are taken into account at the rate of one day of membership per day of suspension.
The same goes for any leave taken to create a business, sabbatical leave, or for a secure voluntary mobility.
If you lose your job, you can reclaim your original entitlements until they run out (unless you've already used them up).
The daily net amount of ARE cannot be less than €29.06 (or €20.81 if you are taking a training course). It is divided into two parts:
- A fixed amount of €11.92
- A variable portion (40%) based on your reference daily wage
You are not exempt from paying pension contributions, at a rate of 3% of the variable portion calculated according to your daily reference salary. The ARE is also subject to the payment of the CSG and CRDS.
The main advantage of the ARE is its potential partial combination with your new professional remuneration.
The amount of the ARE received is then equal to the amount of benefits you are entitled to, minus 70% of the gross salary from your new activity.
The total of your compensation must not exceed the average reference salary used as the basis for calculating your benefits.
The ARE ends if this happens, or if you receive business creation assistance, or daily allowances from Social Security.
Since October 1, 2014, you can combine your ARE (unemployment benefits) with your earnings until your rights are exhausted.
This aid is invaluable to many entrepreneurs, and provides concrete assistance to help them get their projects off the ground in better conditions.
They then benefit from greater financial ease during the launch period, without which they would not have been able to make it happen.
Written by our expert Paul Lasbarreres-Candau
April 11, 2019
