CPF: it is now much more difficult to use your account to finance your motorcycle license

It was in the pipeline, it’s now official: faced with the influx of requests for motorcycle license financing via the personal training account (CPF), the government is tightening the screw. A decree, published this Saturday in the Official Journal, provides that, from now on, only a person’s first driving license will be eligible for the CPF. In other words, French people who already have a car license will no longer be able to use their CPF to pay for a motorcycle license. And vice versa.

“The mobilization of the rights registered on the account (…) for the financing of preparation for the theoretical and practical tests of a driving license (…) is subject to the condition that the account holder does not have a valid driving license on the national territory”, we can read in this decree. Text which is in fact the decree implementing the Houlié law of June 2023, but which had not yet been published, although the measure on the opening of financing by the CPF to all types of permits has been applied since on January 1, 2024. The decree published this Saturday comes into force this Sunday, May 19.

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On the executive side, even if we do not say it explicitly, this decree aims to curb the exceptional enthusiasm for the motorcycle license, which in 2024 has become the second most requested training via the CPF (behind the car license). A source within the government believes that this decision “respects the philosophy of CPF financing of permits: removing peripheral obstacles to employment, and free choice of mode of transport”.

However, it hides budgetary reasons. According to an estimate from the Ministry of Labor, if nothing was done, the motorcycle license would have ended up costing the State 300 million euros. That is more than what the remainder of 100 euros to benefit from training via the CPF should bring. Entering into force on May 2, it could save 200 million euros, according to the Minister for Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave.