The allusion to the 13 billion dollars in social fraud that Catherine Vautrin referenced.
In an interview this week, the Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity, and Families, Catherine Vautrin, detailed a project for a law against social fraud. This law is set to be presented to Parliament this fall, aiming to address the concerning issue of social fraud in France.
The July 2024 report of the High Council for the Financing of Social Protection in France provides a comprehensive breakdown of social fraud by category. The report suggests that social benefit recipients constitute the majority of social fraud cases, with an estimated amount of approximately €2.5 billion, representing about 65% of the total detected fraud. This is followed by health professionals, with fraud amounting to about €550 million, or 14% of the total, and companies with around €500 million, roughly 13% of the total.
Interestingly, the amounts evaluated for pensions are very insignificant compared to the fraud headlines, with fraud related to pensions representing close to €300 million, approximately 8% of the detected fraud. The report also indicates that hidden work within private companies is the main source of social fraud, accounting for over 7 billion euros and 56% of the total 13 billion fraud.
The project, if implemented, allows these funds access to the entire portfolio of the beneficiary, including their properties, banking data, and life insurance, to ensure that they do not have undeclared income. It also provides for the blocking of bank accounts of companies during the control period to prevent them from organizing their insolvency during investigations.
The consolidated view of the report gives a different image than the usual portrayal of social fraud, with the loss of revenue for social security due to fraud approaching 13 billion euros. However, the interview does not mention any consequences for individuals found guilty of social fraud, nor does it specify the exact measures for controlling health professionals who commit social fraud.
The project aims to facilitate the control of recipients of social benefits through communication between different funds to detect multifraudsters. It is important to note that the specific figures for fraud by each subcategory (recipients, companies, and health professionals) are provided in the document, but the figures for pensions are relatively small compared to the other categories.
The interview does not provide a timeline for the implementation of these measures beyond their presentation to Parliament this fall. Nevertheless, the project is a significant step towards addressing the issue of social fraud in France, which currently amounts to nearly 4.5 billion euros, representing 34% of the total, with 2.5 billion for the RSA.
This breakdown indicates that social benefit recipients constitute the majority of social fraud cases both in amount and percentage, followed by health professionals and companies, with pensions fraud constituting the smallest share. The project targets companies that practice hidden work and do not pay their social charges, aiming to combat this widespread issue and ensure a fair distribution of resources for all.
The Minister's project against social fraud may have wider implications for business as it includes the power to access a beneficiary's property, banking data, and life insurance to uncover undeclared income. On the political front, the high amount of social fraud in France, estimated at nearly 13 billion euros, raises questions about the effectiveness of current measures.
The upcoming presentation of the Minister's proposed law to Parliament for addressing social fraud is not only significant for finance but also for the general-news sphere as it highlights a pressing issue in French society. The reported ultimately reveals that social benefit recipients make up the majority of social fraud cases, accounting for around 65% of the total detected fraud, emphasizing the need for stricter regulations to combat this phenomenon.
