In a nutshell, Social Security in France covers the following areas:

• Healthcare costs – generally refunds patients around 50-70% of most healthcare costs, or 100% in the case of costly or long-term illness.  (www.ameli.fr). Private medical coverage (see below) will top this up.
• Maternity and sick leave – sick leave is paid from day 4 onwards and is capped at 41.95€ gros/calendar day – birth leave (up to 2 months), paternity leave (up to 25 calendar days) and maternity leave (16 weeks) are capped but at 104.02€ gross/calendar day. Sick leave will also be covered from week 2-4 by the employer @ 90% of salary, and then life & disability insurance will top this up for longer term sick leave.
• Disability insurance : compensates for loss of income if the ability to work is impacted. Amount of indemnity depends on level on disability. Life & disability (see below) will top this up.
• Basic pension fund paid from age 62 (sometimes earlier if born before 1951), and also paid to surviving spouse upon death (60% of pension amount). Private pension fund (see below) will top this up.
• Life insurance : a forfeitary amount of 3 977€ since April 2025 paid out to heirs of deceased employee.
• Work accidents : benefits for work-related injury or sickness (100% reimbursement of medical costs, mainly).
• Family benefits include assistance with childcare costs, funding of childcare facilities, and parental leave
• Housing benefits paid out to support social housing and housing aid for low-income households.

Spouses and dependent children of an employee or retired person are also covered if they reside in France.

Healthcare coverage in France are universal, the same level of coverage whatever the level of salary for healthcare costs.
For the other benefits, the level of coverage is proportional to salary, but capped and topped up by the below mandatory benefits.

For an extensive explanation of your employees’ rights in France, please visit the CLEISS website.

This covers loss of employment (except in the case of resignation) and benefits are proportional to salary.

In general, if an employee is made redundant, or concludes an amicable termination agreement with his employer, he/she will get +60% of average net salary as unemployment benefits for up to 18 months (or 22.5-27 mos if +55 years old).

Please read the European Commission’s documentation on unemployment benefits in France, in English, for more details.

France Travail also provides a wide variety of programs and financial aid for employees creating a business, training, etc.

These are additional pension funds (referred to as the ‘AGIRC-ARRCO’ funds), on top of the basic retirement scheme provided by the Social Security.  The contribution rules are set by law, are identical for all employers and are proportional to salary and employee ‘status’.

It is a point-based system: each year, an individual’s contributions in France are converted to retirement pension points and added to his/her account. To calculate the amount of a pension, one must multiply the number of points accrued in France by the value of the point, which is determined each year.

More information is available in French here on the official website, or in English here on the European Commission website.

Covers life insurance, prolonged sick leave and disability risks.

Contrary to URSSAF, Pole Emploi and Pension funds, the rates are not set by law, but a minimum coverage and rates are set by the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) applicable to the employer’s activity branch.
The only legal minimum applicable to all employers is that for cadre (management-level) employees. Contributions are a 1.5% rate on the first bracket of their salary (up to SS cap – 4 005 € in 2026), for minimal death capital coverage.

In our Neteem EOR package

We provide a slightly improved coverage vs the minimums in our Portage salarial CBA, which is similar to the Syntec collective bargaining agreement minimum (this CBA applies to all consulting & IT companies in France, although we apply the Portage Salarial CBA, most of our employees would be used to this CBA and expect this coverage), the detail of which can be found below. It provides a very good benefit/cost ratio of coverage, as outlined below :

• Life insurance : if the employee passes away, heirs will receive 320% of annual salary, doubled in case of accidental death, with a minimum of 340% of annual SS limit (i.e. 163 404€ minimum in 2026) +96% annual salary per dependent child and +100% annual salary in case of simultaneous death of spouse
• Education allowance : if the employees has dependent children in school/university when he dies, a yearly education allowance for children under 26 of :
  • 12% of annual salary (minimum of 24% of annual SS limit i.e. 11 534 € in 2026), for dependent children under 18 and
  • 15% of annual salary (with a minimum of 30% of annual SS limit i.e. 14 418 € in 2026), for dependent children 18-26 yo
• Disability/long-term sick leave income : if the worker has an accident/sickness which affects the ability to work, our coverage will top up the Social Security benefits to reach 80% of salary for (after a wait period of 3-30 days, depending on whether it is an accident/hospitalization or sick leave), and between 40-80% depending on the level of disability for permanent disability.

Details of Neteem’s coverage can be downloaded here.

Covers part or all of the difference between actual healthcare expenses and the part covered by the Social Security – which already covers approx. 100% of all ‘serious’ healthcare costs and around 70% of ‘everyday’ healthcare costs. Mainly useful for dental care, eyewear and private hospital stays.

Since 2016, it is compulsory for employers to provide a private health insurance to top up the Social Security healthcare coverage.

This is provided by private insurers with a variety of coverage levels/rates, with minimums set by law and collective bargaining agreements. This coverage will thus be slightly different from one employer to the next – but bear in mind the vital and major part of healthcare costs are already reimbursed through Social Security in France.

In our Neteem EOR package

Neteem provides all workers with healthcare through Alan, recognized for its innovative approach to healthcare management, outstanding customer service and user-friendly app (available in English).

The basic level of coverage corresponds to what both the Portage saalrial and Syntec CBAs set as minimums and costs 97.50€/month, split 50/50 between employer and employee. This includes coverage of any dependent children. This coverage is legally compulsory, and thus must be proposed to any new employee. However, there are a few cases when the employee can refuse the coverage (e.g. if they are already covered by their spouse’s compulsory coverage, or if they are on a short-term contract and want to keep their own coverage etc.)

The employee can also opt to cover the spouse or partner and can also choose up to 3 higher levels of coverage if desired, at his cost

Details of the levels of coverage and options available can be downloaded here.