PIC IAE 2026: funding training for workers on integration-through-work contracts (ACI, EI, AI, ETTI)

An integration workshop and site contacts you to train its workers heading toward a construction or elderly-care occupation, but its training budget is, by design, very limited. What many training providers don’t know is that a dedicated funding channel exists for exactly this situation: the Investment Plan for Skills for Insertion by Economic Activity, or PIC IAE, renewed for 2026. Here is what this scheme covers, who can benefit, and how a Qualiopi-certified provider can position itself.

Insertion by economic activity, a market of its own

Insertion by Economic Activity (IAE) brings together state-approved structures whose mission is to let people who have been durably excluded from the labour market work again while being supported toward a lasting job. Four families of approved structures are concerned:

• integration workshops and sites (ACI), most often run by an association or local authority;
• integration enterprises (EI), ordinary commercial companies whose business model rests on employing workers on an integration pathway;
• intermediary associations (AI), which place workers with individuals, companies or local authorities;
• temporary-work integration agencies (ETTI), which operate like an ordinary staffing agency but reserved for this public.

These structures, collectively known as SIAE (IAE structures), are required to provide their workers with socio-professional support, of which training is a central lever. That is precisely what the PIC IAE co-funds.

The PIC IAE: a State-OPCO co-funding scheme renewed for 2026

The Investment Plan for Skills (PIC), launched by the French State in 2018, includes a strand specifically earmarked for IAE. This strand is steered nationally by the Délégation générale à l’emploi et à la formation professionnelle (DGEFP) and rolled out operationally by the OPCOs, each managing the envelope for its own sector.

For 2026, the priorities announced by the managing OPCOs revolve around several axes: making certifying training for understaffed occupations more accessible, supporting in particular small SIAE (fewer than eleven full-time-equivalent staff), and backing skills development in sectors identified as priorities, notably elderly care and long-term autonomy support.

What the scheme funds

Depending on arrangements that vary from one OPCO to another, the PIC IAE covers:

• teaching costs, generally at actual cost within a cap, including when the course leads to a certification;
• a flat hourly allowance paid to the worker for time spent training, to offset the production time the SIAE loses;
• incidental costs (travel, accommodation, meals) at actual cost, within scales set by the OPCO.

In practice, the funding rate depends on the size of the employing structure: smaller structures generally benefit from a more favourable rate than larger ones. These parameters — exact rates, hourly caps, flat allowances — are set by each managing OPCO and can change during the year: only build them into a quote after checking directly with the relevant OPCO.

Why this market matters to a Qualiopi-certified provider

The PIC IAE doesn’t pay the training provider directly: the funding file is built and filed by the SIAE itself, as employer, with its OPCO. The training provider acts as the contractor chosen by the SIAE to deliver the action. That changes how you approach this market compared with a standard CPF listing: here, the commercial relationship is built with the IAE structure, not directly with the learner or the funding platform.

This market remains under-exploited by generalist training providers, for two reasons: unfamiliarity with the funding channel, distinct from better-known routes (CPF, OPCO skills-development plan, France Travail), and the need for pedagogical adaptation. A worker on an integration pathway often carries several peripheral barriers (mobility, fragile basic skills, years away from the world of work) that the content and format of the training must account for, in line with indicator 6 and indicator 10 of the National Quality Standard.

Qualiopi, an unavoidable prerequisite

The PIC IAE mobilises public and pooled funds within the meaning of Article L6316-1 of the Labour Code: an action funded on this basis must be delivered by a Qualiopi-certified provider, save for a narrowly defined legal exception (internal training delivered by the employer itself, for instance). A non-certified provider approached by a SIAE will first need to start its certification process — our Qualiopi audit preparation checklist is a good starting point.

How to position yourself in practice

1. Identify the SIAE in your local labour market. National and regional IAE federating networks publish directories of approved structures; local DDETS offices also keep a list.
2. Contact the OPCO the structure reports to, not a generic OPCO: each SIAE belongs to a sector branch and therefore to an OPCO, just like any other company. That OPCO is the one that reviews the PIC IAE file.
3. Adapt your offer rather than proposing a standard catalogue course: shorter modules, a stronger initial assessment, a pace compatible with staying in post, and workplace-based assessment where relevant.
4. Draw up a quote that matches what the OPCO expects: itemised teaching costs, consistency with your usual pricing for comparable services, and an explicit mention of the targeted certification where relevant — a point already familiar to providers who work with France Travail’s AIF or POEI.
5. Plan for review times, often longer than for a CPF file, especially where the OPCO works through periodic calls for projects rather than on a rolling basis.

Points to watch

A PIC IAE file remains public and pooled funding: it is subject to the same traceability requirements as a standard CPF or OPCO file — attendance sheets, proof of delivery, assessment of learning outcomes. In the event of an inspection by the DREETS or the OPCO, the provider must be able to demonstrate that the action actually took place and that it matches the original quote.

Another point not to overlook: as with the AIF or the POEI, a file submitted after the training has started is very generally rejected, since the quote must be approved by the OPCO before the first day of the action. Economically, this market is generally less lucrative per hour than a standard in-company assignment, but it offers recurring, lightly contested activity: most training providers simply don’t know this channel exists.

What the research says about training for people far from the labour market

The effectiveness of training schemes targeting vulnerable groups has been the subject of extensive research. A landmark meta-analysis by David Card, Jochen Kluve and Andrea Weber, “What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations,” published in the Journal of the European Economic Association in 2018 (see the study), covering more than 200 evaluations of active labour market policies, finds that training effects are often close to zero in the short run but become significantly positive two to three years after the programme ends, particularly for schemes centred on genuine skills acquisition rather than administrative support alone. That argues for building IAE training as a sustained effort rather than a box to tick in the worker’s pathway.

A French study by Véronique Rémy, “L’insertion par l’activité économique: comment les salariés sont-ils accompagnés et quelle perception en ont-ils?” (“Insertion by economic activity: how are workers supported, and how do they perceive it?”), published in the journal Travail et emploi in 2017, confirms this from the beneficiaries’ side: the perceived quality of the support provided, of which training is one component, plays a decisive role in workers’ ability to project themselves durably into employment — more so than the exit rate measured at the end of the pathway alone.

Take action

Positioning yourself on the IAE market first requires a solid Qualiopi organisation, able to demonstrate that your services are adapted to specific groups — exactly what indicators 4, 6 and 10 of the standard cover. The Complete Kit Certif (€297) gives you the templates and evidence expected to document this adaptation indicator by indicator, and the Ebook “Set up your training organisation in 30 days” (€67) lays the groundwork if you’re just starting out — or choose the Kit + Ebook Pack (€347) to cover the whole process.