The Walloon Government has approved a reform of the service voucher scheme. The aim is to sustainably preserve a scheme that is important for employment and users, while improving the quality of employment, training, the protection of female workers, transparency for users, the sustainability of businesses and the effectiveness of controls.
Service vouchers play an important role in Wallonia: they promote employment for low-skilled people, offer an alternative to undeclared work and make it easier for users to balance their personal and professional lives. This social and economic role of the scheme has been at the heart of the approach defended for several months.
“Service vouchers are important for employment, for the female workers in the sector and for many users. But the system needs to evolve if we want to preserve it. We want to improve the quality of employment and training, better protect users and tackle abuse more effectively. Doing nothing is not an option,” stresses Pierre-Yves Jeholet.
Better training and improving the quality of employment
The first strand of the reform aims to improve the quality of employment and the attractiveness of the domestic help profession, an essential but demanding job.
The reform also aims to strengthen access to training and better adapt it to the realities of the profession. This involves developing skills useful in everyday work, providing better support to workers in their career paths and offering those who wish it more opportunities for progression.
More transparent fees and more effective controls
The reform also provides for better regulation of the additional fees that can be charged to users, building on the regional comparison tool already in place. This tool allows users to find out about and compare the fees charged by approved companies.
These fees will need to be linked to a concrete added value: a benefit for the worker or an improvement in the service offered to the user. Users must know what they are paying for and what they receive in return. Subscription formulas are also being banned to guarantee greater transparency.
The control and sanctions regime will be strengthened at the same time in order to act more effectively against fraud and abuse. The recovery of wrongly paid amounts will be improved.
“Public money must be used correctly. There is no room for fraudsters and cowboys in a scheme largely funded by the community. Those who abuse the system must be sanctioned, without making life more difficult for businesses that operate properly,” adds Pierre-Yves Jeholet.
Digitalising without excluding
The reform also continues the digitalisation of service vouchers in order to simplify and modernise how the scheme works. Alternative solutions will however remain available for people who have difficulties with digital tools, particularly elderly people or those affected by the digital divide.
Preserving the scheme over the long term
Wallonia will continue to finance the bulk of the cost of the service voucher. On 1 January 2027, the price of the service voucher will rise from €10.60 to €11.20, while the community will continue to cover nearly two-thirds of the actual cost of an hour worked. The current level is €10.60 paid by the user for an estimated actual cost of €30.95, of which €20.35 is covered by the Region.
The indexation mechanism will also be adapted. When the pivot index is first exceeded during the year, the 60-cent indexation will be passed on to the price paid by the user from the following 1 January. If the pivot index is exceeded a second time in the same year, the Region will intervene again: its share will be indexed by 2%, while an additional 20 cents will be passed on to the price paid by the user.
In the current budgetary context, tax deductibility for service vouchers will also be ended. Wallonia could not remain the only Region to maintain this tax advantage while having to guarantee the long-term funding of the scheme.
Despite these changes, on 1 January 2027 the price of the service voucher in Wallonia will remain lower than the rates applied in the other Regions.
“We are asking users to make an effort, but the community will continue to bear the bulk of the cost. We need to find the right balance: keeping the service accessible, protecting jobs and enabling the system to endure over the long term,” concludes Pierre-Yves Jeholet.