Designed to respond to the feeling of decline expressed during the “yellow vest” crisis in territories facing the decline of public services in a context of accelerated digitalization of procedures, the France Services spaces have kept the promise made then by Emmanuel Macron to offer all fellow citizens “a place to find answers to the needs of your daily life” ? Do they have sufficient and sustainable means to do so? These are two questions that the Court of Auditors examined in an evaluation report (2020-2023), made public on Wednesday 4 September.
These local support centres, which currently number 2,840 in France (including branches), offer, through a one-stop shop managed by at least two multi-skilled staff, assistance with various administrative procedures (taxes, retirement, vehicle registration, pre-applications for titles, etc.). A sort of “Swiss Army knife of service”, which now brings together eleven national partners (France Titles, France Travail, La Poste, the National Family Benefit Fund, the National Old Age Insurance Fund, Mutualité sociale agricole, the National Housing Agency, etc.). To this minimum offer, called the “base”, local associations specific to each structure can be added.
Managed by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the system is based on a network of local carriers (local authorities, Post Offices, associations, etc.). In detail, 58% of users are over 55 years old and the majority are women (56%). Young people are poorly represented. Finally, 82% of requests are processed on site.
Reinforced network (doubling the number of structures), increased assistance (albeit heterogeneous depending on the space), continuously increasing requests processed (1.17 million in 2020, 9 million at the end of 2023), personalized listening and support… The jurisdiction of La rue Cambon welcomes above all a program that “satisfies most users” (more than 90%) at the same time as “contributes to the social cohesion of the territories”.
“Places of sociability”
Almost 100% of the spaces are within a thirty-minute transport distance, in accordance with the presidential commitment. They are located mainly in rural areas (63%) – 18% are in priority areas of the city. The Court also welcomes the results that are superior to the previous experience of the Public Service Houses.
“Users find in France Services a “humanized and humanizing” service relationship”, welcomes the jurisdiction, which alleviates “administrative burden”especially for people furthest from digital. In addition, these spaces are perceived by many users “as places of sociability”exceeding initial ambitions. Services of France “influences the individual’s feeling of abandonment”The Court considers that “unquestionably contributes to the reduction of territorial divisions.”
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