ARE is a public benefit for jobseekers who demonstrate their willingness to create a new project, whether salaried or self-employed. The advantage of the ARE is that it can be combined with income from professional activity.
The conditions differ depending on whether you are employed in the private, public or self-employed sectors. This measure is designed to encourage business start-ups or takeovers.
Other schemes exist for entrepreneurs: ARCE, ACRE and NACRE.
They are all tools that encourage business creation and the growth of self-employment throughout the country.
Faced with changes in the labor market, encouraging individual mobility and transitions between salaried employment and entrepreneurship is one of the current government's priorities.
Let's find out together what the ARE is, under what conditions and for how much.
The ARE is paid to people who are involuntarily unemployed. To qualify, however, you must have worked for at least 1 month prior to the termination of your previous employment contract.
It ceases to be paid when you return to paid employment or self-employment, in France or abroad.
The length of time the ARE is paid is equal to the length of the jobseeker's affiliation period, which is taken into account for the opening of his or her entitlement to the allowance.
If the person is under 53, this corresponds to the 28 months preceding the end of their contract.
If she is over 53, the last 36 months are taken into account.
Whether you are over or under 53, the conditions for receiving ARE are as follows:
- You must be considered involuntarily deprived of your job as a result of redundancy, dismissal, contractual termination, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, resignation considered legitimate or for personal reasons.
- You must be registered with Pôle Emploi or have completed a training course in your personalized project for access to employment (PPAE).
- You must perform positive and repeated acts to find a job.
- You must be endorsed by Pôle Emploi, which must verify that you are eligible for the benefit in relation to your last job. The length of affiliation depends on your age, and the number of hours worked during the period in question.
Training periods are treated as working hours.
Periods during which the employment contract was suspended (for various reasons, such as illness or an accident at work) are taken into account at the rate of one day's membership for each day of suspension.
The same applies to any leave of absence for business start-ups, sabbaticals or secure voluntary mobility.
If you lose your job, you have the right to resume your initial rights until they are exhausted (unless you have already exhausted your rights).
The net daily amount of ARE cannot be less than €29.06 (or €20.81 if you are in training). It is divided into two parts:
- A fixed amount of €11.92
- A variable portion (40%) based on your daily reference salary
You are not exempt from paying pension contributions, which amount to 3% of the variable portion calculated on the basis of your daily reference salary. ARE is also subject to CSG and CRDS.
The main advantage of the ARE is that it can be partially combined with your new professional remuneration.
The amount of ARE received is then equal to the amount of benefits to which you are entitled, less 70% of the gross remuneration from your new activity.
Your total earnings must not exceed the average reference salary used to calculate your benefits.
The ARE ends if this happens, or if you receive business start-up aid or daily allowances from Social Security.
Since October 1, 2014, you can combine your ARE entitlements with your earnings until your rights are exhausted.
This assistance is invaluable for many entrepreneurs, helping them to create their project under the best possible conditions.
They then benefit from greater financial comfort during the launch period, without which they would not have been able to bring it to fruition.
Written by our expert Paul Lasbarreres-Candau
April 11, 2019
