The Social Security Financing Bill currently under discussion is going back and forth between the National Assembly and the Senate, in a particularly tight schedule, with a deadline for adoption set for mid-December. Should the vote fail to take place on schedule, several exceptional scenarios could be envisaged.
Where do we stand with the adoption process? What are the main measures?
Here's what our experts have to say.
Reminder of the PLFSS adoption procedure
The Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) is submitted by the Government to the National Assembly no later than the first Tuesday in October.
The National Assembly, which receives the bill first, has 20 days to examine it on first reading.
If no decision is taken within this period, the Government forwards the text to the Senate, even if no vote is taken. On first reading, the Senate then has 15 days to reach a decision.
All in all, Parliament must vote within 50 days of the PLFSS being tabled.
Where are we now?
Following the adoption of a widely-amended text by the Senate and the failure of the Joint Committee, the text is returning to the National Assembly for a second reading, with a public hearing scheduled for December 2, 2025.
Subsequently, the text that will (eventually) be adopted by the Assembly will go to the Senate in 2 stages.e reading, before returning for final reading by the National Assembly, which will have the final say (potentially on December 9 according to the National Assembly's current agenda).
Parliament now has until December 12, 2025 included to definitively adopt the PLFSS (deadline 50 days after submission).
What happens if the adoption doesn't take place in time?
If adoption does not take place within the deadline, we will be faced with two scenarios:
- Passing a «special» law and waiting for another PLFSS in the early months of 2026 (as happened with the PLFSS 2025); ;
- The government implemented the bill by ordinance (an option never before used in the history of the French Ve République).
Nevertheless, the National Assembly and the Senate agreed on a number of points:
- The increase in the social security flat-rate tax from 30 to 40 % for individual severance and retirement agreements
- Abandonment a priori of measures to make employees subject to the 8% lump-sum social security charge :a number of tax-exempt benefits (meal vouchers, etc.)
- Flat-rate deduction of employer contributions of €0.50 per hour of overtime extended to companies with more than 250 employees. .
- The deletion of measures to modify scales on exemptions from social security contributions under the LODéOM
- The opening of TO-DE exemption for forestry work companies
- The creation of a additional birth leave for a period of 1 or 2 months, at the employee's discretion. However, no agreement has been reached on the effective date. In addition, the notion of fractioning was dropped by the Senate.
The Senate's main amendments and additions
- Suspension of pension reform rejected
- Restoring the system for eliminating the exemption from employee contributionslegal and contractual benefits for apprentices
- Abolition of the malus on old-age insurance contributions
- Exceptional contribution on complementary health care reintroduced at
- RGCP - Parameter T: deletion of the deputies' amendment aimed at replacing the SMIC by the conventional minimum General reduction in employer contributions
- Work stoppages - Deletion of the measure aimed at limiting the duration of work stoppages.
- Working hours - Overtime threshold raised from 1,607 to 1,619 hours when working hours are arranged over the year.
- Early release of profit-sharing and incentive schemes in the event of employee buyouts, by allowing early release of profit-sharing and incentive rights
- Limitation of exemptions from contributions on employee savings schemes (profit-sharing, incentive schemes and matching contributions to savings plans) por employees earning more than 3 SMIC, and if
- Tickets for sporting events - The Senators introduced an amendment to exempt from CSG/CRDS and social security contributions the benefits represented for employees by the provision by the employer of tickets to attend sporting events for all employees, under conditions and limits to be set by decree.
- Vehicles made available on a permanent basis to home helpers and exemption from state contributions‘the benefit in kind represented by the portion of non-business use of the vehicle
