For training organizations, it may be interesting to make one or more training offers eligible for the CPF. What is the CPF, what are its advantages and how to make your offer eligible?
Article Summary:
- What is the CPF?
- Why be eligible for the CPF?
- Training and certification, what’s the difference?
- How to make yourself eligible?
- What to do once the request has been validated?
- What checks are carried out afterwards?
What is the CPF?
The Personal Training Account (CPF) is a system that allows all workers over the age of 16 to benefit from a budget to finance training on various subjects. It is capped at €5,000 (€8,000 for non-graduates and/or disabled workers). The account is updated every year.
The CPF allows you to finance training without authorization from your employer or Pôle Emploi, so you can freely choose to train, as long as this training is certified or diploma-based, i.e. with a professionalizing aim (except for certain standard training courses).
It is France Skills which acts as the national regulatory and financing authority for vocational training and apprenticeships. France Compétences establishes the list of training courses eligible for the CPF, which currently includes 14,000 courses. This list is updated regularly.
Why be eligible for the CPF?
As a training organization, it may be interesting for you to make part or all of your training offer eligible for the CPF. Indeed, eligible training can be financed up to 100%, which increases your visibility among active people and people who would not have thought of training if they had to bear the full cost. This can therefore bring you new trainees.
The CPF also allows you to secure payments and gain credibility with your potential customers. This is all the more true since it has been necessary, since 1er January 2022, hold the Qualiopi certification in order to be able to make training eligible for the CPF. Any eligible training therefore benefits from increased credibility since Qualiopi is a guarantee of quality.
Training and certification, what’s the difference?
A certification allows validation of skills which attest to the ability to carry out activities independently in a professional context.
A skill is a "relevant mobilization of resources (for example: knowledge, technical know-how, relational know-how) and those of one's environment, in various situations to carry out an activity according to professional objectives to be achieved". It is therefore not a training action or knowledge.
A training action allows a trainee to be taken from point A to point B with the objective of developing skills.
How to make an offer eligible for the CPF?
1. Check if your training is not royalty-free
Here is the list of training courses automatically eligible for the CPF:
- All training courses preparing for active certifications in the RNCP and the Specific Directory;
- The accompaniment to Validation of Acquired Knowledge and Experience (VAE);
- The skills assessment;
- Training courses enabling the acquisition of the Common Core of knowledge and skills, in other words the KeyA Certificate;
- Training actions to help with business recovery or creation;
- B license (excluding B1 and BE licenses);
- Qualifying training courses which appear on one of the lists established by the social partners;
- Training actions within the framework of the Citizen Engagement Account (CEC) allowing civic service volunteers, volunteers and volunteer firefighters to acquire the skills necessary to carry out their missions.
2. Establish a partnership or register your certification with the RS or RNCP
The essential criterion for making your training eligible for the CPF is that it is certified, qualifying or diploma-based (Law of March 5, 2014 on vocational training). It must also meet the needs of the labor market.
/!\ Some common law training courses do not need to be certified. These include: create your own business, THE driving license and the skills assessments.
There are two ways to make your training eligible: enter into a partnership or make your training action certifiable.
1. There are certifications already listed by France Compétences that may apply to the training you deliver.
You can then contact the certifying partner and establish a partnership according to specifications and sometimes for a fee. You take charge of the training program and then, at the end of the training, your learners take the certification according to the procedure set up by the Certifying Body. The certification must be linked to the training program. You then become a partner of the certifier and are authorized to prepare for its certification. However, you will need to check that the certification remains active and is renewed when it expires.
Establishing a partnership allows you to appear on the list of Organizations preparing for certification. Each certification body has its own specifications (price, procedure, seniority, etc.). Be careful, however, some certification bodies do not wish to establish partnerships.
The role of a Certifying body is clearly distinct from that of the providers of certifying training courses who prepare for their certifications registered in one of the two directories.
Therefore, and given the significant number of certifications already registered, partnerships between certifiers and training providers are encouraged in order to limit requests for registration of new certifications.
2. There is no certification that matches your training path.
You can then submit your own certification or diploma to France Compétences.
If you want to apply for registration of a certification, you will need to be able to justify the usefulness of the certification or diploma. New entrants must therefore be careful, because this requires at least two years of hindsight. In fact, it is necessary to:
– for the RNCP, issue certification to at least two classes (one class represents all those certified in one year) and monitor their professional integration over two years after obtaining certification;
– for the RS, issue certification to enough holders to be able to demonstrate its economic and social value.
How do I know if a certification falls under the RS or the RNCP?
- A registration request must be made upon request toNational Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP)for certifications directly linked to a professional skill (example: Complementary Mention in Pastry, Ice-making, Chocolate-making, Confectionery, Specialized)
- A registration request must be made tospecific directorycertifications and accreditations for certifications for cross-disciplinary skills (Tosa, Leveltel, Permit B)
In both cases, your request will be made online by creating an account on France Compétences.
Steps to create a certification project
Step 1
It is recommended to assess the adequacy of the project to the proven needs of the job market in terms of skills or occupation. “What is the need actually expressed by the economic actors concerned and what are the sources that attest to its reality?” (market research, sector analysis, etc.)
Step 2
Check that the certification project does not already exist (Search for professional certification). If a similar certification is already registered, there are two possible options:
· Create a partnership with the existing certification body
· Continue with the certification project, bearing in mind that only the needs of the labor market can justify its creation and registration
Step 3
Formalize a skills framework and an assessment framework
· Skills framework : a professional skill is a specific action in an identified context. Writing in terms of skills must therefore be structured using action verbs formulated in the infinitive (Bloom's taxonomy)
· Evaluation framework : set up terms and conditions and some evaluation criteria to certify that certified candidates have mastered the targeted skills
Step 4
Implementation of control procedures of all the arrangements for organizing the assessment tests. In concrete terms, juries that issue the certification are set up. The certification is then issued in the name of the submitting organization.
Help notices are available to validate a complete file:
For the RNCP:
https://www.francecompetences.fr/app/uploads/2019/12/notice_aide_rncp_10122019.pdf
For the Specific Directory:
https://www.francecompetences.fr/app/uploads/2019/12/notice_aide_rs_10122019.pdf
Processing time and rejection rate
The rejection rate for registration files in the Specific Directory (formerly Inventory) reached 80 % in 2020
Time limit :
The average time between the time the file is submitted to France Compétences and notification of the decision (favorable or not) is 7 months.
The steps are as follows:
Preparation and writing of the file (independent of France Compétences) 2 MONTHS
The success rates of the phase of admissibility are of 60%. Approximately a third files are returned to the applicant for additional information. Finally, 5% are declared inadmissible.
The Commission (phase #4) meets every month except in August and deliberates on approximately 200 files on average (2020 data).
More than 80 % of the registration files for the Specific Directory are refused, compared to 40 % for the National Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP).
Calendar of the next France compétences commissions for the examination of RNCP and RS certifications:
22/04/2022 | 31/05/2022 | 30/06/2022
3. Be Qualiopi certified
The decree making Qualiopi certification mandatory to be eligible for the CPF came into force on January 1, 2022.
If you have obtained the certification, you simply need to ensure that you appear on the list of Qualiopi certified people.
You can find further information in This item.
4. Demonstrate consideration of people with disabilities
To be eligible, it will be necessary to demonstrate that people with disabilities are taken into account in the construction of the procedures for passing exams or certification. This also ties in with Qualiopi, since several criteria require genuine consideration of the specificities related to people with disabilities.
What should I do once my request has been validated?
Once your request has been validated, you must submit an initial declaration of activity on the portal mesdemarches.emploi.gouv.fr in order to obtain a registration number to identify you. This number must always appear on purchase orders, invoices and professional training contracts.
You can then enter your training courses in the Area dedicated to Training Organizations (EDOF) !
What checks are carried out?
Whether you have registered it in the France Compétences directory, or you have purchased a certification already listed, your training is now eligible, and trainees and companies can register directly from their CPF account.
On the other hand, you are subject to several controls and obligations.
First of all, you must maintain your Qualiopi certification, and therefore pass the various surveillance and renewal audits.
You must also communicate your Educational and Financial Report each year. If you do not do this or it is zero, your activity declaration number will be deactivated and you will no longer be able to offer training eligible for the CPF.
On the CPF website, training offers are constantly monitored: you must ensure that they are consistent with the type of certification offered, and that you use the correct codes, otherwise your training will be deactivated. You must also respect the General Terms and Conditions of France Compétences.
You can also be checked at any time by the OPCO, in the form of an audit.
Finally, if you are a certification body, you must also declare all partners authorized to prepare your certification (in other words, the training organizations that purchased the certification from you in order to add it to their program). This declaration must be made annually on the dedicated platform.
