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Reviewing a maintenance allowance

Last update: January 2010

Some practical advice

This page shows you how to review the amount of a maintenance allowance when the judgement or court order states that the allowance is indexed to consumer prices, as is generally the case.

Before starting your calculations, read the judgement or court order to check whether the allowance is indexed and, if it is, which consumer price index and which reference date to use.

The responsibility of INSEE may not be engaged by the application of the formulae displayed on this page.

You will only find practical advice on calculations here.

If you want legal information

You can consult:

You can calculate the amount of your allowance:

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What consumer price index should be used?

The judgement or court order specifies the price index you should use for indexation of the allowance.

  • Only the indices "excluding tobacco" may serve as a reference to index a benefit. This has been the case since January, 1, 1992 (in accordance with the Neiertz law to combat tobacco addiction and alcoholism).
  • Two indices have been in force since January 1999. One is for all households; the series is called "All households". The other is for urban households and the series is called "Urban households headed by a manual or clerical worker".
  • If your judgement is linked to an overseas département index, you should use the "overseas départements" index and not the "all of France" index (Metropolitan France and overseas départements).

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What month's index should be used?

  • Case 1: the judgement shows the date on which the allowance should be reviewed, for example May 1, specifying that the index used is the one in force on that date. In this case the index to be used is the latest one published in the "Journal Officiel" (JO) and known on that date, in this case on May 1.
  • Case 2: the judgement shows the month of the index to be used for the review, for example the month of June. You then have to wait for the publication of the JO containing the June index.
  • For other cases, you should apply whatever is written in the judgement.

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How to calculate the amount of your allowance

The principle behind a review

A review of the allowance amount consists in multiplying the old amount by the difference in the price index between two dates.
This difference is obtained by means of the ratio between two values of the index.

The way to calculate it is as follows:

Allowance amount currently paid
X 		New monthly index
= 		Revised allowance amount
Old monthly index

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You want to review your maintenance allowance compared with last year

Example
A maintenance allowance awarded by a judgement of June, 5, 2005 comes to 300 euros. Its review is index-linked to the "All households, excluding tobacco" consumer price index. The allowance is to be revised on January 1 of each year against the last known index on that date.

The allowance amount paid in 2008 was 313.28 euros per month. The last "All households, excluding tobacco" consumer price index known on January 1, 2008 was the November 2007 index published in the Official Journal of 12/15/2007, at 116.02.

The last known index on January 1, 2009 is that of November 2008, published in the Official Journal of 12/19/2008, at 117.92.

NB: to find these indices you should consult the table on the "Indices for maintenance allowance reviews" page, an extract of which is shown below.

Consumer price index. All France (metropolitan France + overseas départements), 1998=100
Period Series excluding tobacco
Urban households headed by manual or clerical payroll worker		 Series excluding tobacco
All households		 Date of publication
In Journal Officiel
November 2009 118.29 118.31 12/23/2009
October 2009 118.22 118.23 11/18/2009
... ... ... ...
January 2009 117.18 117.13 02/22/2009
December 2008 117.65 117.63 02/11/2009
November 2008 117.90 117.92 12/19/2008
October 2008 118.42 118.49 11/16/2008
September 2008 118.44 118.56 10/16/2008
... ... ... ...
January 2008 116.25 116.32 02/23/2008
December 2007 116.36 116.46 01/17/2008
November 2007 115.93 116.02 12/15/2007
October 2007 115.36 115.37 11/16/2007
... ... ... ...

To evaluate the maintenance allowance amount on January 1, 2009, calculate as follows:


313.28 euros
X 		117.92
=
318.41 euros

116.02

The maintenance allowance amount on January 1, 2009 revised from January 1, 2008 is 318.41 euros.

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If the judgement is less than one year old and you want to review the allowance for the first time

Example
A maintenance allowance awarded by a judgement of May 10, 2008 comes to 310 euros. It is index-linked to the "Urban households headed by a manual or clerical worker, excluding tobacco" price index and is to be reviewed on January 1 of each year using the last known index on that date.

The last "Urban households headed by a manual or clerical worker, excluding tobacco" price index known on May 10, 2008 is that of March 2008 published in the JO of 04/18/2008, at 117.35.

The last index known on January 1, 2009 is that of November 2008, published in the JO of 12/19/2008, at 117.90.

To evaluate the maintenance allowance amount on January 1, 2009, calculates as follows:


310 euros
X 		117.90
=
311.45 euros

117.35

The maintenance allowance amount on January 1, 2009 revised from May 2008 is 311.45 euros.

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If the judgement was made before 1998 and you want to review your maintenance allowance

In order to take economic developments into account, from time to time INSEE revises the index reference base of the consumer price index. The current base is the 100 base in 1998, in other words the index was equal to 100 in 1998.

To review an allowance, in the calculation formula you must always use indices that use the same base year. The indices for bases prior to 1998 can be downloaded from the "Indices to review maintenance allowances" page.

When an allowance has not been reviewed since 1998, you should follow 2 steps.

Example
A monthly maintenance allowance awarded by a judgement of July 2, 1994 comes to 1 800 FF.
Its review is index-linked to the "All households, excluding tobacco" consumer price index. The allowance is to be revised on the anniversary date of the judgement, against the last known index on that date.

Step 1: review for the period from July 1994 to July 1998 (base 100 in 1990)

The last known index on July 2, 1994 is that of May 1994 published in the JO of 06/25/1994, at 109.1. The last known index on July 2, 1998 is that of May 1998 published in the JO of 06/27/1998, at 115.1.

The calculation is as follows:


1 800 F
X 		115.1
=
1 898.99 F (289.49 euros) (*)

109,1

(*) 1 euro = 6.55957 francs.

Step 2: review for the period from July 1998 to July 2009 (base 100 in 1998)

The base 100 in 1998 index of May 1998 is 100.2. The last known index on July 2, 2009 is that of May 2009 published in the JO of 06/14/2009, at 118.18.

The calculation is as follows:


289.49 euros
X 		118.18
=
341.44 euros

100.2

The allowance amount revised in July 2009 against July 1994 is 341.44 euros.

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Download

Where can I find this information?

Consumer price index also available:

  • Voice server
    0 972 72 2000 (charged as a local call)
  • Insee Contact Service
    0 972 72 4000 (charged as a local call)
  • Legifrance, the public service for dissemination of legal matters.

See also