Cycling accidents, overwork, flu... no one is immune to health problems. While salaried employees are guaranteed an income in the event of sick leave, this is not the case for the self-employed. Under certain conditions, the self-employed can receive compensation following an illness or accident. Find out how daily benefits are calculated: amount, duration and waiting period.
What are daily benefits?
Daily allowances are paid by the French social security system to compensate for loss of income due to absence from work as a result of accident or illness.
To be eligible for sickness benefit for your professional activity, you must be able to prove at least 12 months of continuous affiliation to this activity.
The payment of daily benefits while you are off work is subject to compliance with these 3 conditions:
- Be temporarily unable to continue or resume work due to illness
- Have a work stoppage prescribed by the attending physician who has noted this impossibility
- No longer in business
Sections 1 and 2 of the form, completed by the doctor, must then be sent to the Caisse primaire d'assurance maladie (CPAM) within 48 hours.
How are they calculated?
The daily allowance received during the work stoppage corresponds to 1/730th of the average annual earned income (RAAM). This is obtained by averaging the income contributed during the 3 years prior to the date of work stoppage. The income taken into account depends on the annual Social Security ceiling (PASS), set at 43,992 euros gross on January 1, 2023. Even with an AASR higher than the PASS, the daily allowance cannot exceed 60.26 euros gross.
For self-employed workers on low incomes, the daily allowance may be reduced or even nil. However, since January 1, 2022, it has been possible to receive compensation for their former professional activity, by applying via the daily allowance file review application teleservice accessible on the démarches-simplifiees.fr website.
Waiting period and duration of IJ payments
The waiting period is set at 3 days. This means that no daily allowance can be paid for the first 3 days of sick leave.
There are 2 cases in which this time limit does not apply:
- When the employee's sick leave has been extended
- When work stoppage is linked to a long-term illness (ALD)
The duration of daily allowance payments varies according to the type of work stoppage prescribed and the pension fund to which the entrepreneur belongs. For example, for craftsmen, shopkeepers and self-employed professionals covered by the general scheme who have been off work for less than 6 months, the maximum number of days of compensation is set at 360 over a 3-year period.