The Finance Act for 2025 has introduced a new long-term partial activity scheme known as ‘APLD-R’ to support businesses experiencing difficulties.
A real lever for businesses experiencing a decline in activity in our fragile economic climate, this new scheme allows businesses to reduce their employees’ working hours for a specified period.
We therefore offer you a summary of the main rules applicable in this area so that you can familiarise yourself with this scheme that is available to you :
1. Principle and operating procedures
The APLD-R scheme is aimed at companies experiencing a sustained reduction in activity that does not, however, threaten their long-term viability.
It allows employers to reduce their employees’ working hours in exchange for commitments to maintain employment and provide access to training.
Employees’ working hours may thus be reduced by up to 40% of the legal working time (or, if lower, the collective working time or that stipulated in the employment contract), a limit which may be exceeded in exceptional circumstances but may not exceed 50%.
While this scheme is in place, employees will receive an hourly allowance from their employer amounting to 70% of their gross hourly reference pay (up to a maximum of 4.5 times the minimum wage). This allowance will increase to 100% of the employee’s net pay for training hours completed during the hours not worked.
The company will receive an allowance set at 60% of the gross hourly reference wage (up to a maximum of 4.5 times the minimum wage).
The APLD-R therefore represents a significant advantage for companies in difficulty, enabling them to temporarily reduce their payroll costs while promoting the upskilling of their employees through training.
2. Implementation procedures
Companies wishing to benefit from the APLD-R may implement it :
Either through an establishment, company or group agreement, subject to validation by the administration, which will then have 15 days to respond;
Or through a unilateral decision by the employer (DUE) if the company is covered by an extended branch agreement on the subject. In this case, the DUE must be submitted for approval by the administration, which will have 21 days to respond.
If the administration does not respond within the specified time frame, this will be taken as acceptance of the scheme.
The agreement or DUE must include certain mandatory information:
- A preamble containing an assessment of the economic situation of the establishment, company or group;
- The start date and duration of application;
- The scope of the establishments, activities and employees to which the scheme will apply;
- The maximum reduction in working hours over the period in question;
- Commitments made in terms of job retention and vocational training;
- The procedures for informing the trade unions that are signatories to the agreement and the employee representative bodies about the implementation of the scheme (to be communicated at least every three months).
Other optional commitments may be specified in the agreement or the DUE, such as :
- The conditions under which salaried managers, corporate officers or shareholders make efforts commensurate with those required of employees;
- The conditions under which employees take their paid leave and use their personal training accounts, before or during the implementation of the scheme;
- Specific measures taken to retain employees aged 57 or over.
3. Duration of the scheme
The APLD-R scheme applies to agreements and DUE forms submitted to the authorities between 16 April 2025 and 28 February 2026.
The APLD-R scheme may be used for a maximum of 18 months, consecutive or otherwise, over a reference period of 24 consecutive months. Authorisation from the authorities will be granted for renewable periods of six months.
At the end of each period, the company must provide the authorities with an updated assessment of its situation and, if necessary, request renewal of the scheme.
The social services department at RUFF & ASSOCIÉS is at your disposal to discuss this matter with you and assist you in implementing this scheme.
This article was written in September 2025 by the Social Services Department
