Near Toulouse, diving into the heart of the unique service in France of the Café in charge of alimony
In Colomiers, Caf advisers worked for a unique platform in France dedicated to the management of maintenance payments.
In the western suburbs of Toulouse, near the city center of Colomiers, next to the kindergarten, a vast building displaying the architectural codes of the region. An accelerated plate showing the reception hours of this branch of the Haute-Garonne family allowance fund is fixed to the facade. At the back, on two floors, 42 people called in the jargon of user service advisers work for the Agency for the collection and financial intermediation of alimony (Aripa). These women and men spend their days in headphones with a microphone attached to their heads. Indeed, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., service opening hours, they receive calls from all over France for questions relating to alimony. “It’s a unique platform in France, the Caf Haute-Garonne is a benchmark in this area. Here we manage national requests. We received 813,912 calls in 2021 and for the moment, as of September 7, we are at 700,203 calls received, ”explains the head of Aripa, Hélène Bourguinat.
Then, about forty agents require the files of eight departments of the former Midi-Pyrenees region. Pauline, a bubbly young woman is part of this team. She takes five minutes to put on her helmet and talk about her daily life. “We have all the profiles, from the single mother in great difficulty, to the dad who feels aggrieved by the payment of this pension”, she recalls. Most of the time, the appeals concern a challenge to the court decision but also the refusal by a member of the couple to pay because he considers that the money was badly spent and finally the case of people who are not able to pay the sum fixed by the judge.
From direct debit to payment
On a daily basis, she and her colleagues therefore manage the difficult question of alimony after the separation of a couple with children. These agents can therefore manage unpaid bills via amicable or forced collection. “We have the power to seize on bank account, on salary. All of this is considered by the adviser”, underlines one of the managers of the division. But since last March, the skills of this service have been expanded. From now on, as soon as the divorce decision is pronounced by the court, it is to this service that the management of the payment of the alimony falls, this is what is called “financial intermediation”. “Before in France, about 40% of child support was not paid. This generated catastrophic situations. By entrusting this mission to Aripa, the State intends to drastically reduce this figure. We must therefore manage the deduction of the pension and then its payment in order to limit unpaid bills as much as possible”, emphasizes Hélène Bourguinat.
And an additional step will be taken next January. On that date, this financial intermediation will become the norm for all separations. This clearly means that the CAF will be the intermediary in the management between the person who must receive the pension and the one who must pay it.