Questions about Developing Your Professional Skills
The Personal Training Account (CPF) is a budget made available to every working person in France, regardless of their origin or status. These training rights are acquired throughout a person's career and disappear upon retirement.
An annual contribution (most generally €500 or €800) is made for each individual per year worked (employee, business owner, self-employed) up to a maximum of €5,000 to €8,000.
It can be used at any time during your career and at your own initiative without having to request validation from the employer (except in the public sector) to finance all or part of eligible training.
Training courses eligible for the personal training account are specified in lists developed by social partners at the national and regional levels. You can find the list of these courses by searching for training at moncomptecpf.gouv.fr
The CPF is accessible to a wide audience. It benefits anyone at least 16 years old entering the workforce and can even be accessed from the age of 15 for young people who have entered into an apprenticeship contract. The account is only closed when retirement rights are settled.
The CPF is a personal right to training because:
only its holder can decide to mobilize it. An employer or Pôle emploi cannot force, respectively, an employee or a job seeker, to use the hours of his CPF for training;
it is attached to the person. The hours are not lost and remain available for training, even if the account holder loses their job (following a dismissal, a mutual termination or the end of a fixed-term contract, for example). The account is no longer funded when its holder loses their job but they can use the hours credited to their account throughout their period of unemployment.
The dematerialized service dedicated to the management of personal training accounts: www.moncompteformation.gouv.fr is automatically funded each year without the holder having to take any particular steps thanks to the mandatory social declarations made by the employer.
By going to their personal space, the holder can view their hours credit and find out about the lists of training courses eligible for the CPF.
To order your training directly, you must now either:
have a LA POSTE Digital Identity that you can create on lidentitenumerique.laposte.fr
Have a FRANCE IDENTITE account, available only with the new French smart identity cards. Download the application from the App Store or Play Store on your smartphone.
complete an alternative route request for foreigners or those who do not wish to/cannot use digital identity services.
If you want to order a training course and feel lost, we will help you create your digital identity and use the services to get there.
Only certain training courses can be financed by the CPF. These courses are as follows:
acquisition of a base of knowledge and skills defined by decree;
support action for the validation of acquired experience (VAE);
and certain qualifying and certifying training courses appearing on specific lists (drawn up either at the national or regional level). These lists are accessible in the personal space of the account holder created on the dematerialized service dedicated to the CPF: www.moncompteformation.gouv.fr .
Since May 2, 2024, regulations have required the payment of a fixed amount of €100 to order training. This amount has been increased to €102.33 as of January 6, 2025.
This payment is made by Carte Bleu when ordering the training and directly online on the moncompteformation.gouv.fr platform.
In some cases, this payment is not activated. Here are the main ones:
Job seekers registered with France Travail.
People receiving a top-up from their employer
The employer has two obligations in terms of professional training: adaptation to the job and keeping employees in employment; it can also offer actions which contribute to the development of skills (article L 6321-1 of the labor code).
The employer also has an obligation to provide general safety training (art. L 4121- and L. 4121-2 of the labor code).
The skills development plan lists all the training actions implemented by the employer for its employees, some of which are mandatory under an international convention or legal and regulatory provisions (article L 6321-2 of the labor code).
The concept of training has been simplified, with a new definition: a training activity is an educational path that allows a professional objective to be achieved. It is now possible to conduct on-the-job training (AFEST), in addition to face-to-face training or training that is fully or partially distance learning.
For employers, developing a skills development plan can be relevant to all companies, regardless of their size. Whether or not to implement a skills development plan is entirely up to the employer, after consulting with employee representatives.
On the employee side Any employee may be targeted by a training action provided for in their company's skills development plan. The departure for training is then considered part of the normal execution of their employment contract. They cannot oppose it (except in special cases): the employer's request falls within their management authority, and failure to comply may be considered professional misconduct that may justify, if necessary, dismissal.
The employee may take the initiative to request training provided for in the company's skills development plan. The law does not impose any procedure: the request and response are formulated freely, according to the customs or conventional provisions that may exist in the company. The employer is free to refuse or accept. If the employer accepts, the employee's departure for training remains assimilated to the normal execution of the employment contract. These issues can also be addressed between the employer (or their representative) and the employee, during the mandatory biannual professional interview.
We must distinguish:
mandatory or necessary training actions which are those which condition the exercise of an activity or a function in application of an international convention or legal and regulatory provisions. They constitute actual working time and give rise to the maintenance of remuneration by the employer;
training activities other than those above, known as non-mandatory: they also constitute actual working time and give rise to the maintenance of remuneration, except when they take place outside working hours.
Being in training as part of the skills development plan is considered to be part of the normal performance of the employment contract: the employee must therefore follow the training assiduously and cannot oppose the employer's possible decision to reinstate him in his job before the end of the training.
Continued remuneration During the training, the employee continues to be paid and retains their usual social security protection. If an accident occurs during the training, it will be considered an accident at work.
Training costs borne by the company The cost of training remains the responsibility of the company. Meal and accommodation costs incurred during the training are reimbursed or covered directly by the employer according to the rules usually applied in the company for professional assignments.
Training during working hours, except for exceptions Training implemented as part of the skills development plan takes place in principle during working hours.
However, certain training activities may, within certain limits, take place outside of actual working hours.
Non-mandatory training activities which take place outside working hours, two hypotheses:
in the event of a company or branch collective agreement providing for the possibility of actions taking place wholly or partly outside working hours: in this case, the agreement sets the hourly limit, or percentage of the package, for monitoring training outside working hours and may provide for compensation to offset childcare costs;
in the absence of a company or branch collective agreement, with the employee's agreement on the carrying out of training activities in whole or in part outside working hours: in this case, the limit is set at 30 hours per year or 2% of the package, per employee. In this case, the employee's agreement must be formalized and can be terminated within 8 days.
The employee's refusal to participate in training activities outside working hours or the termination of his or her agreement within 8 days does not constitute misconduct or grounds for dismissal.
The employee returns to their job, or to an equivalent position with equal pay and qualifications.
The employer has no obligation to recognize the skills acquired during training (through a change in qualification, an increase in remuneration, etc.), except when he has undertaken to do so, or if the employment contract or collective agreement applicable to the company provides for this recognition.
The employee is free to resign. However, their employment contract may include a training waiver clause by which they agree to remain in the company's service for a certain period of time or be required to reimburse the costs of the training they have completed. This type of clause is lawful under certain conditions, particularly if the commitment required of the employee is not excessive (excessive length of service requested, exorbitant amounts to be reimbursed, etc.) and does not impede their freedom to resign.