In France, the CSE (or social and economic committee) is an employee representative body. Elected by the company's employees for a maximum of 4 years, the members of the CSE are committed to ensuring that the voice of employees is heard. To carry out their various missions, they benefit from two specific budgets: one for operations and the other forsocial works. Here's how it works.
Understanding CSE budgets
Each year, the CSE is allocated two budgets to carry out its missions. The members undertake to respect the legal obligation to separate separation of the 2 budgets. Each budget is autonomous.
- Operating budget
The first budget must be used to enable the CSE to function properly (and only to do so). It therefore includes expenditure on: training for CSE members, CSE equipment and premises, accounting and legal fees , CSE accounts , CSE communications and CSE travel expenses .
The amount of the operating budget is defined as follows:
- for companies with 50 to 1999 employees, the operating budget corresponds to 0.2% of the company's gross payroll.
- for companies with 2,000 or more employees, the operating budget is equivalent to 0.22% of the company's gross payroll.
An employer subsidy may also be allocated to social and cultural activities (unless the employer has already allocated a sum corresponding to 0.22% of gross payroll to the CSE).
- Social welfare budget
The second budget, thesocial works budget, is dedicated to social and cultural activities (ASC) such as leisure activities and other employee benefits. The amount paid is determined by the employer (who is the sole decision-maker). There is, however, one rule to be observed: the amount must be at least equal to the previous year's budget.
Although there is an obligation to separate these budgets, there is one exception.
A decree specifies that a surplus of up to 10% of the operating budget may be allocated to the social works budget.
Please note:
- There is an obligation to report on this transfer on the annual accounts of the CSE AND in the report on important information relating to activities and financial management.
- It is important to ensure that the CSE's budget can cover one-off mandatory consultations and consultations on strategic organization. If this is not the case, the employer is under no obligation to help the CSE if a transfer has already been made.
Make sure you keep your accounts
In addition to simply respecting the use of the budget, the CSE must keep accounts (of commitments or income and expenditure) and draw up an annual report on the financial management of the CSE each year. The latter must be made known to employees by means of compulsory posting.
To do this, you need to adopt the right reflexes:
- Think about categorizing expenses : URSSAF is particularly attentive to the use of CSE budgets. Our tip for avoiding mistakes: think about the purpose of the expense rather than its nature. Is the purchase going to be used for the smooth running of the CSE, or is it going to offer a benefit to employees?
- Connect your CSE accounts to your accounting software: the more administrative procedures are automated, the easier it will be to manage your own accounts.
Simple solutions for budget management
Anytime's experts are already working with numerous works councils, and know their day-to-day issues inside out. This enables them to offer simple, appropriate and cost-effective solutions.
Want to find out more? Download our special CSE ebook and contact us for more information.