A Masterpiece of the Absurd: Arpège made by Sopra Steria
After my post about the 32 million euro rip-off at HERTZ, a company so brilliantly advised by Accenture, let's take the same script and transpose it a few million euros over, but this time in the public sector and on behalf of the CPAM.
The slogan could have been: "Take 37 million euros, hand them to Sopra Steria, and turn vital compensation into administrative hell."
Now we can pay for the corporate retreats
That's the perfect summary of the Arpège software experiment, deployed in autumn 2024 across two pilot CPAMs — Loire-Atlantique and Vendée. The goal? Replace an obsolete system for managing daily allowances (sick leave, workplace accidents, etc.) and automate the whole mess. On paper, clever. In reality, an explosion.
Figures and damage
- More than 15,000 insured individuals affected by incorrect amounts, delays, or complete radio silence for several months (journaldugeek.com).
- Mobilisation takes shape: a collective called "Arpège, no thanks!" emerges on social media, while trade unions and MPs challenge the government (journaldugeek.com).
- Typical corporate reaction: payment of emergency advances, but these band-aid transfers are not recognised as daily allowances on the Ameli account. Result: massive administrative headache for insured individuals, agents, the CAF, tax services, insurance providers... a complete mess. (journaldugeek.com).
- Appalling figures: 90,000 advances paid to 57,200 people (41,600 in Loire-Atlantique + 15,600 in Vendée) for a total of 68 million euros, but the crisis? Still ongoing (journaldugeek.com).
- National rollout planned for 2025? Outright postponed to 2026 in an attempt to repair the damage (journaldugeek.com).
The overwhelmed system, the broken lives
These malfunctions are not minor details: they are lives in turmoil. Payment delays, partial payments, complete absence of transfers... Thousands of families plunged into precarity, forced to return to work against medical advice or to skip meals. Chilling testimonies reported by Comment Ça Marche:
"With my husband, a loan to repay every month, I'm constantly overdrawn."
"I called the CPAM in tears. I said I was going to kill myself..." (commentcamarche.net)
The testimonies keep coming: sick leave turned into a bureaucratic battle. At this level, Sopra Steria is truly delivering a service: maximising stress.
The State and the unions: a late and feeble response
The management of the CNAM and the Ministry of Health vaguely acknowledge... a problem and promise a fix. But in practice, it's a slow drift:
- The Defender of Rights and the CGT are raising the alarm with the administration — but without rapid progress (01net.com).
- The national rollout is delayed... but on the backs of already vulnerable insured individuals (journaldugeek.com, 01net.com, journaldeleconomie.fr).
- Agents are mobilised, advance payment procedures are created, summons are sent out, the CPAM's social role is reaffirmed... but the malfunctions persist. (01net.com, clubic.com).
In short, the circus goes on. And people wonder why petitions are being signed — like the one launched on Change.org in January 2025, with nearly 22,938 signatures, expressing the distress experienced since September 2024, with threats of loss of entitlements, health risks, and evictions... (change.org).
Public services in panic.
Sopra Steria: the company that turns the social security system into a nightmare
All of this? At the controls: Sopra Steria, a private contractor chosen by the CNAM to "modernise" sick leave compensation. Result: outsourcing a vital social security service to a disastrous piece of software — a bit like if you outsource your heart to a broken machine.
Let's quote Infolibertaire, which speaks of "outsourcing that turns into a social catastrophe". Yes, a catastrophe. (infolibertaire.net)
Overwhelmed agents, suicidal claimants, families on the brink of collapse, all for a botched piece of software and 37 million euros shared out.
This fiasco is the pinnacle of technocratic drift.
You take 37 million euros, hand them to Sopra Steria, say "we're going to save time, automate, free up agents", but all you end up with is: delays, deprivation, stress, hardship, health risks and public finance damage. No human gain, just broken lives.
The ministry plays the arsonist firefighter, agents find themselves in administrative make-up mode, and insured individuals become reluctant hackers of the social security system. And in 2025, we wax poetic to say "sorry, we're pushing it to 2026"...
At this rate, the next step will be a challenging theatrical piece, entitled: "The Day We Automated Precarity".
