What are the new amounts of support for the hiring of an apprentice?

The decree of 22 February 2025 modifies the amount of the hiring assistance for apprentices.

Thus, for apprenticeship contracts concluded from 24 february 2025 (the day after the order is issued), themaximum aid awarded by contract is set at:

• €5,000 for companies with less than 250 employees ;
• €2,000 for companies with 250 or more employees ;
• €6,000 for the recruitment of apprentices with disabilities (cumulative aid with other aid for disabled workers).

This aid shall be paid only for the first year of contract performance.

Adding new conditions

The decree introduces two new conditions for receiving this aid:

• the transmission of the contract by the employer to theSkills Operator (OPCO) must take place no later than 6 months after its conclusion and the operator has lodged it with the Minister responsible for vocational training;
• not having benefited from the aid for the hiring of an apprentice for the first time. This provision shall apply to apprenticeship contracts concluded between same employer and one same apprentice for a same professional certification.

What aid for previously concluded contracts?

Contracts concluded between 1 January and 23 February 2025

For contracts concluded during this period, the maximum aid shall be €6,000 by contract for companies with less than 250 employees.

The other companies do not receive this aid.

Contracts concluded before 2025

For contracts concluded before 1^er january 2025, the maximum aid is €6,000 by contract for all companies.

As regards the conditions to be met in order to obtain this aid, the companies with less than 250 employees have no conditions to be completed.

The companies with 250 or more employees must, in turn, respect theone of two conditions :

• Go To at least 5% of contracts promoting integration into the labor market (apprenticeship contract, professionalisation contract, LIFE, WAX) in the total annual number of employees, on 31 December of the year following that in which the contract was concluded. This 5 % is equal to the ratio between the number of employees covered by employability contracts and the total annual number of employees of the company.
• Go To at least 3 % of alternants (apprenticeship or professionalization contract) and have had a 10 % increase in alternance in the year following the year of conclusion of the contract, compared with the annual number of employees in those categories (apprenticeship contracts and professionalization contracts) in the year of conclusion of the contract.

If these objectives are not met, the money collected will have to be repaid.

How is the aid paid?

No special steps are required to qualify for the aid, the company simply has to declare the hiring of an apprentice.

The aid is paid automatically by the Service and Payment Agency (ASP) every month during the first year of the apprenticeship or professionalization contract, before the salary is paid. The company receives a notice of payment that can be viewed on the SYLAé platform.

Summary table