The IRCEM insurance refers to the foundation of social protection managed by the Complementary Retirement Institution for Household Employees, a non-profit joint group established in 1973. This system covers employees of private employers and childminders across three distinct areas: complementary retirement, insurance (illness, incapacity, disability, death), and social action. Understanding the relationship between these components helps anticipate coverage gaps, especially at the time of retirement.
IRCEM social assistance and public aid for the elderly: avoiding double applications
The social action of IRCEM is not limited to one-off financial aid. The group offers prevention and home support assistance (housekeeping, personal care), psychological support, and targeted assistance for significant health expenses such as dental care, vision, or orthodontics.
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The difficulty arises when a retiree from the home employment sector is also eligible for public programs: personalized autonomy allowance (APA), disability compensation benefit (PCH), social assistance for housing (ASH). IRCEM assistance often acts as a complement, not a replacement for these departmental benefits.
Specifically, a retiree requesting housekeeping assistance from IRCEM must check if they are already receiving the APA, as both programs fund home help hours. The risk is creating two parallel files without coordination between the organizations, which delays allocation or generates overpayments to be reimbursed.
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The best practice is to first submit the application to the departmental council (APA or ASH), then request IRCEM to cover the remaining costs or needs not accounted for.
To better understand how IRCEM insurance and social assistance function as a whole, it is essential to distinguish between what falls under mandatory insurance and what pertains to the voluntary social action of the group.
IRCEM insurance: active guarantees during professional life
The IRCEM insurance covers employees of private employers from the moment they are affiliated. It is not limited to death risk. The guarantees cover four specific situations:
- Temporary incapacity for work: daily allowances paid in case of illness or accident, after a waiting period, to compensate for lost wages.
- Disability: a pension supplements the benefits paid by Social Security when the employee can no longer perform their job, either partially or totally.
- Hospitalization: a fixed daily allowance for each day of hospitalization, intended to cover additional costs (private room, transport, childcare).
- Death and funeral: payment of a capital sum to the beneficiaries, and the option to subscribe to an additional funeral guarantee.
These guarantees are financed by contributions deducted from wages. They cease on the retirement date, except for the funeral guarantee, which can be maintained. The transition to retirement thus creates a coverage gap for incapacity and disability, which the pension alone does not compensate for.
IRCEM complementary retirement: how the pension is calculated
IRCEM manages the mandatory complementary retirement for home employment employees, under the Agirc-Arrco scheme. The principle is based on a points system: each year of contribution generates points, the value of which is set by the social partners.
The annual amount of the complementary pension corresponds to the total number of points multiplied by the value of the point at the time of liquidation. An employee who has worked part-time for several employers accumulates points with each of them, but all points are centralized by IRCEM into a single statement.
Common case of fragmented careers
The home employment sector is characterized by short contracts, accumulated part-time hours, and high employer turnover. This fragmentation mechanically reduces the number of points acquired each year. A multi-employer employee may contribute the equivalent of a full-time position in total, but each contract taken individually generates only a few points.
IRCEM centralizes these dispersed rights, simplifying the calculation. However, undeclared periods (under-the-table work) remain lost quarters, with no possibility of buyback in the complementary scheme.
IRCEM social action for retirees: which health expenses are covered
Once retired, the social action component takes over from the insurance. IRCEM processes requests for assistance with health expenses that destabilize the retiree’s budget. The most frequently documented situations concern dental care, vision, and orthodontics, when the remaining costs after reimbursement from the complementary health insurance remain high.
Assistance is granted based on social criteria, after examination of the file by IRCEM services. It is not automatic and depends on the applicant’s resources, family situation, and the nature of the incurred expenses.
The social action of IRCEM also addresses family caregivers of retirees in the sector. A relative who supports a former home employee losing autonomy can benefit from respite solutions or psychological support. This caregiver dimension distinguishes IRCEM from most complementary retirement funds, which limit their social action to retirees only.
Coordination with complementary health insurance
IRCEM also offers a health guarantee (mutual insurance), distinct from social action. Social assistance intervenes when the mutual insurance is no longer sufficient to cover an exceptional remaining charge. The two systems do not duplicate: the mutual insurance reimburses according to a fixed scale, while social action evaluates the situation on a case-by-case basis.
A retiree from the home employment sector who accumulates a low complementary pension and recurring health expenses thus has three safety nets: Social Security, IRCEM complementary health insurance, and IRCEM social action. Requesting the third without having activated the first two delays the processing of the file, as IRCEM systematically checks that the standard avenues have been utilized before granting exceptional assistance.