When will you receive the back-to-school allowance (ARS)?

School supplies, materials, clothing... The costs of back-to-school are significant for families every year. The Back-to-School Allowance (ARS) is an aid for families to meet these expenses.

Conditioned to the resources of the home, the ARS is aimed at parents with children of 6 to 18 years are enrolled in a public or private institution, are in apprenticeship or are being cared for in a specialized care institution.

Payment dates for the 2026 school year

For the 2026 school year, the back to school allowance (ARS) is paid on tuesday, august 18, 2026 in mainland France and in Guadeloupe, Guyana and Martinique. In La Réunion and Mayotte, the ARS payment is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4, 2026. That's what the Ministry of National Education.

Resource requirements for the 2026 school year

To benefit from the back-to-school allowance, these are the resources to N-2 which are taken into account, i.e. the household's 2024 resources for the ARS for the 2026 school year.

The allowance is paid directly by the family allowance funds (Caf) or by the Agricultural social mutual fund (MSA) if you are dependent on the agricultural scheme. It is possible to benefit from the allowance for several consecutive years, the family situation is reassessed each year.

The limits you cannot exceed depend on the number of children you have to support:

• €28,956 for 1 dependent child;
• €35,638 for 2 dependent children;
• €42,320 for 3 dependent children;
• €49,002 for 4 dependent children;
• then €6,682 per additional child.

Scale of amounts for 2026

The child must be between 6 and 18 years old at the time of the start of the school year.

To receive the 2026 back-to-school allowance, your child must have been born between September 16, 2008 and December 31, 2020 inclusive.

Amounts have been revalued to 1^er April 2026.

What steps should be taken to obtain ARS?

You are a Caf recipient

• Your child is between 6 and 15 years old at the start of the school year: the ARS is paid automatically without any steps to be taken.
• Your child is under 6 years old and comes back to CP: you will have to pick up a school certificate (from his school) and send it to your Caf or deposit it in your My Account area of the Caf site or on the app "Caf - My Account".
• Your child is between 16 and 18 years old: you must declare that he is still in school or learning from your « My Account » space on the Caf website or via the « My Account » application.

You are not a Caf recipient

You must create a personal space on the Caf website and then download a form in the section My steps > Personal life > Parenthood, print it out and send it back to your Caf in order to declare your situation.