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French financiers go home to £6,000 a month benefits
Peter Allen in Paris18 Feb 2009
FRENCH traders are fleeing financial chaos in London to return home to unemployment benefits of more than £70,000 a year in some cases.
MP Alain Vidalies revealed the amounts in a question to French finance minister Christine Lagarde.
He described the "outrageous reality" of once-highly paid traders being allowed to claim up to 75 per cent of their income once back in France.
The City is popular with traders from Paris, who can earn 10 times what they get in France, and there are about 300,000 French nationals based in London.
Many made huge amounts of money during the economic boom years and some were among the richest in the capital, living in prosperous areas such as South Kensington.
But many are returning home, to what appears to be a life of luxury on social security benefits well above the average national wage. Many would not have paid French social security contributions when in London.
The amount to which claimants are entitled is capped at €6,366.80 a month - at today's exchange rates just over £6,000 a month. Unemployment benefits in France equal 57-75 per cent of a jobseeker's last salary, with the cap, giving the traders their high payouts.
Benefits can last for as long as three years and sometimes longer for people nearing retirement.
To register as being unemployed in France, claimants need to have worked for at least six months in the past 22 and be actively seeking a job.
Other jobless benefits include generous housing subsidies and help with energy bills and even food shopping.
A spokesman for Unedic, the French unemployment agency, confirmed that former City of London traders were "among those being paid unemployment benefits at its highest level".
In a parliamentary answer to Mr Vidalies, Mrs Lagarde confirmed that unemployment benefit was paid to all those who could provide a terminated work contract - including people working in other EU states, even if they were not paying French social security charges at the time.
On a visit to London in early 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy told a rally of French expatriates that if they voted him president they need no longer fear returning home.
"France is still your country even if you're disappointed by it," he said.
Reader views (11)
Umm - who is paying for this, the British or the French taxpayer ?
- Peter Haldane, London, 20/02/2009 10:43
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Benefit systems are flawed. Look at the UK's. You can't blame the French traders for exploiting this
- Ruskie, london, 19/02/2009 15:49
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It sounds like yet another attempt to divert attention from Total Disaster UK plc.
So what if French unemployment is 75% of your last wage? At least in France you can still get 4% interest if you have any spare money to put in the bank!
- Marianne, SW France, 19/02/2009 13:24
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France can afford to do this because they don't offer benefits to just any scrounger who turns up in their country - Britain take note!
- Casper Slides, France at the moment, 19/02/2009 12:27
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Just out of interest will ALL these returning French ex-traders be forced to take up the available jobs as shelf-stackers in supermarkets and/or as operatives in fast-food outlets?
- Fraser, Telford Park, 19/02/2009 12:08
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To Kareen, would you like to pay the same amount of taxes than in France? You can't have it all, low taxes and high benefits.
- John, London, UK, 19/02/2009 11:32
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Perhaps we could persuade the idle Brits who've been long term unemployed to go to France instead? But then I guess they'd have to learn French which is a bit like hard work.
- Bob, Cheam, 19/02/2009 10:12
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Matthew, London is so so much better, overall outside south Ken...
Fred, French in London
(traders and similar are by far not representatives of the French community in UK)
- Fred, london, 18/02/2009 23:30
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I find it incredible that benefits in all the Eu countries are not the same across the board.
Four years ago my husband was a fund-manager earning in excess of £80K. He was made redundant, got another job earning a quarter of that salary, and then that company went into receivership. He was unable to claim any benefits or allowances because he had not paid enough NI contributions. One job centre employee told him we could sell our house and move somewhere smaller! Our savings have all gone, any shares that we could have cashed are now worthless, we are earning less than we paid in taxes in the past! And yet, when we try and get any help from the state we are left high and dry! Maybe we should consider moving to France?!
- Kareen, Tonbridge, Kent, 18/02/2009 21:35
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At least we don't have to pay for this.
- Andrew, London W1, 18/02/2009 21:21
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I want to live in France!
- Matthew, london, 18/02/2009 17:16
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