French Prime d'Activité Benefit Application (CAF)

Any employed or self-employed worker aged at least 18, lawfully and habitually resident in France, whose net earnings from work remain modest. Students and school pupils are excluded unless their earnings exceed the CAF threshold — approximately 78% of the net monthly SMIC (France's statutory minimum wage). Civil servants and public-sector employees are eligible under the same income criteria.

The amount depends on household composition, net earnings from work, and rent paid. For a single person earning €1,100 net per month, the bonus is approximately €150–200. The reference flat-rate (montant forfaitaire) for a single person with no dependants is approximately €648/month following the April 2026 uprating, which is indexed annually to the reference inflation rate and published in the Journal officiel. The exact figure should be verified on caf.fr. Only the official caf.fr simulator gives a precise amount for your situation.

Go to caf.fr, create an espace personnel (personal account) or log in if you are already a recipient (allocataire), then click 'Mes aides et services' > 'Prime d'activité'. Enter your net income for the past 3 months, your monthly rent, and your household situation. No supporting documents need to be attached to the application; the CAF may request them later for verification. The claim takes effect from the 1st of the month in which it is submitted.

The bonus is paid on the 5th of each month. Processing a new claim typically takes 4 to 6 weeks (statutory maximum: 2 months). A claim filed at the start of March results in a first payment on 5 April or 5 May depending on processing speed, with a catch-up transfer covering the period from 1 March. Payments continue monthly provided you complete the quarterly income declaration (DTR) within the CAF's deadlines; a missed DTR causes automatic suspension of all payments.

There is no single ceiling: eligibility is determined by a formula combining the reference flat-rate amount, net earnings from work, and other household resources. As a rough guide, a single person with no dependants is generally eligible if net earnings are below approximately €1,900/month; this threshold rises with dependants. The caf.fr simulator gives the exact answer for your specific household situation in a matter of minutes.

Yes. The prime d'activité can be combined with a salary, the ASS (allocation de solidarité spécifique — solidarity allowance for job-seekers returning to work), a partial invalidity pension, or a workplace accident/occupational-disease annuity. It cannot be combined with the ASPA (solidarity allowance for older people), the ASI (supplementary invalidity allowance), the widowhood allowance (Code de la sécurité sociale, art. L. 842-7), or the RSA (revenu de solidarité active — France's guaranteed minimum income) when paid with no professional activity. Combination with the AAH (disability allowance) is possible for recipients in employment; this right to cumulate the two benefits predates the October 2023 reform, which solely individualised the AAH calculation by excluding a spouse's income (déconjugalisation, loi n° 2022-1574 du 16 décembre 2022, art. 4).