Ending an apprenticeship contract: the full procedure for a French CFA

An employer who ends an apprenticeship contract mid-year, an apprentice who resigns, unfitness confirmed by occupational health: a termination is never a non-event for a CFA (apprenticeship training centre). Beyond the immediate paperwork, French law imposes precise obligations on the training centre toward the apprentice — too often discovered in a rush rather than planned for.

The termination cases set out in the Labour Code

Free termination during the first 45 days

During the apprentice’s first 45 days of practical training in the company — consecutive or not — either the employer or the apprentice may end the contract unilaterally, without giving a reason or serving notice. This period, counted in days actually spent in the company rather than calendar days, gives both parties a de facto trial period to confirm the relationship before the contract becomes harder to end.

After that period: strictly defined grounds

Once the 45 days have passed, the contract can no longer be ended freely. The Labour Code provides for four routes:

• Mutual agreement: the apprentice and employer jointly sign a termination document (a template is available on the Ministry of Labour’s website), with no reason required. A copy must be sent to the CFA and to the OPCO funding the contract.
• Resignation by the apprentice, introduced by Law No. 2018-771 of 5 September 2018: it requires first referring the matter to the apprenticeship mediator at the relevant chamber of commerce or trade, then giving written notice with a seven calendar-day notice period.
• Termination for serious misconduct, medically confirmed unfitness, permanent exclusion from the CFA, or force majeure, which the employer can record, or which the labour tribunal (conseil de prud’hommes) settles in case of disagreement.
• Early completion of the targeted diploma or qualification, which ends the contract automatically.

The CFA’s legal duty: keeping the apprentice in their training cycle

This is the least-known point for people setting up a CFA: ending the contract does not end the relationship between the apprentice and the training centre. Article L. 6231-2 of the Labour Code requires every CFA to take all necessary steps to help the apprentice find a new employer, and to let them continue their theoretical training within the centre for up to six months from the termination date.

In practice, this means the CFA cannot simply record the termination and remove the apprentice from its rolls. It must show an active approach: a follow-up meeting, mobilising its network of partner companies, forwarding job openings, and connecting the apprentice with placement bodies where relevant. This duty sits alongside the CFA’s broader missions — mobility referent, disability referent, advisory board — which we cover in our article on the differences between a training organisation and a CFA.

Funding during the period without an employer

Keeping the apprentice in training would be an empty shell without funding. Article L. 6222-18-2 of the Labour Code lets the skills operator (OPCO) that was funding the contract keep that funding going for the six months following the termination, while the apprentice looks for a new employer or the cycle ends some other way. This mechanism keeps the CFA from training an apprentice for free with no resources behind them, and protects the organisation’s cash flow on cases that would otherwise turn into an administrative headache. For where this fits among funding channels more broadly, our article on OPCO funding for a training organisation details how the funding level (NPEC) is paid out.

The vocational-training trainee status

During this period without an employment contract, the apprentice switches to the status of vocational-training trainee. They lose the wage an employer would pay, but keep their social-security cover, and some regions — under their authority over vocational training — pay a trainee allowance during this period. This change of status has concrete consequences for the CFA: the apprentice concerned must be flagged as such in administrative and pedagogical tracking, separately from apprentices still under contract, notably for accurate reporting in the pedagogical and financial report (BPF).

Beyond six months, if no new employer has been found, the vocational-training trainee status ends. The CFA must then guide the apprentice toward another path: standard continuing-education routes if funding allows, a switch to a professionalisation contract — whose rules differ noticeably, as covered in our article on the professionalisation contract — or support toward a full reorientation.

Why this duty matters as much as the procedure itself

A study by Stéphane Guillon and Stéphanie Hinsinger, published in 2016 in the journal Questions Vives (read the study on OpenEdition), followed apprentices from an Alsace-based CFA after their contracts ended. Its findings show that a termination sharply raises the risk of dropping out and reduces the odds of completing the qualification, but that this risk falls significantly when the apprentice receives active support and a reorientation plan prepared in advance. That finding directly illuminates the purpose of article L. 6231-2: it is not a paperwork formality, but a mechanism designed to limit dropout at the most fragile point in the apprentice’s path.

What a Qualiopi auditor checks on this topic

For a certified CFA, how terminations are handled is directly assessed during audits, under indicator 29 — apprentices’ professional integration and, upstream, indicator 12 — preventing dropouts. Auditors don’t settle for a statement of intent: they ask for concrete cases, evidence of meetings, job offers forwarded, and follow-up over time. The referents available for these situations — mobility referent, disability referent — must also be identifiable, as required under indicator 20. Our Qualiopi audit preparation checklist folds this point into the 8-week countdown before the audit.

Quick checklist for a CFA facing a termination

• Does the ground for termination match one of the cases set out by law (45 days, mutual agreement, resignation via the mediator, serious misconduct, unfitness, force majeure)?
• Is the termination document sent to the CFA and the OPCO as quickly as possible?
• Is a follow-up meeting held with the apprentice as soon as the termination is known?
• Is the search for a new employer tracked (offers forwarded, contacts, dates)?
• Is the vocational-training trainee status correctly recorded in administrative tracking?
• Is a six-month deadline set in advance, to plan for reorientation if no employer is found?

Take action

Getting apprenticeship-contract terminations right avoids both an audit non-conformity and a broken training path for the apprentice. The Complete Kit Certif provides the procedures and evidence tables for CFA-specific indicators, including professional integration and dropout prevention. Just starting to set up your CFA or training organisation? The ebook Create your training organisation in 30 days lays the administrative groundwork — or choose the complete pack that combines both creation and certification.