Funding your professional training

Employees, apprentices, small businesses

Funding through the OPCOs

The Skills Operators (OPCOs) are State-approved bodies responsible for funding professional training for employees, apprentices and sometimes job seekers. Each OPCO covers a specific sector and pays part of the training costs: tuition and sometimes ancillary costs (travel, accommodation).

The schemes

• Apprenticeship and professionalisation contracts: obtain a recognised qualification while working.
• Skills development plan: maintain or improve employees’ skills.
• Pro-A: progress or retrain through work-study while staying in your job.
• Collective actions: pooled training between companies in the same sector.
• Small businesses (fewer than 50 employees): enhanced funding with higher coverage.

How to obtain funding

1. Identify your sector’s OPCO (via your NAF/APE code or your employer).
2. Prepare your file: course description, Academy quote, training plan or individual request.
3. Submit the request online or by post, respecting the deadlines (1 to 2 months before the course).
4. Once approved, the OPCO covers all or part of the costs.

Job seekers

Funding through France Travail

France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) offers several schemes to support a return to work or a career change. They cover all or part of the tuition fees, and sometimes training allowances.

• Individual Training Aid (AIF): full or partial funding of a course linked to a professional project.
• AFPR and POE: for job seekers who already have a job offer but lack certain skills.
• Collective training: for sectors with labour shortages, including aesthetics.

How to obtain funding

1. Meet your France Travail adviser and present your training or career-change project.
2. Provide the course description and the Academy’s quote, with a justification of its relevance.
3. Your adviser submits the funding request (AIF, POE, AFPR…).
4. Once approved, you start the course with the funding granted.

Craft-business owners

Funding through the FAFCEA

The Training Insurance Fund for Craft-Business Owners funds training for craftspeople registered in the Trades Register. If you work in aesthetics or wellness as a registered craftswoman, our courses can be covered.

How to obtain funding

1. Check your eligibility: registration in the Trades Register and a covered activity.
2. Choose your course and request the detailed programme and quote.
3. Download and complete the application form on the FAFCEA website, with your SIRET and registration extract.
4. Send the file by email or post and wait for approval.

Everyone in the workforce

Funding through the CPF

The Personal Training Account (CPF) lets everyone in the French workforce (employees, self-employed, job seekers) fund certified or qualifying courses, even while working.

How to use your CPF

1. Log in to moncompteformation.gouv.fr (account linked to your social security number).
2. Check your balance and, if needed, request a top-up (employer, France Travail).
3. Search for the eligible course and enrol online.
4. Attend the course with no upfront payment, or with partial coverage depending on your balance.