CPF and EDOF: How Providers Access French Training Funding

France funds individual training through the Compte Personnel de Formation — a personal training account every worker holds, spent through the Mon Compte Formation platform. From a provider's point of view the money is real and already allocated, but it is only reachable if you are certified and listed. The gatekeeping runs through two things: Qualiopi certification and the EDOF catalogue.

Qualiopi: the certification that unlocks the account

Qualiopi is the quality certification required to offer training on Mon Compte Formation and to be referenced on EDOF. It has been mandatory for Mon Compte Formation training since 1 January 2022, and since 1 January 2024 it has also been required for training elected officials in the course of their mandate, under décret n° 2021-1708 of 17 December 2021.

It applies to all training organisations including independent trainers, and it is scoped by the type of action you deliver: certifying training actions (or driving-licence preparation), bilans de compétences, and validation of prior experience (VAE). You need it for each type of action you offer — holding it for certifying training does not cover you for skills assessments.

The certification rests on a single référentiel of seven quality criteria, and it is issued by a third-party body accredited by Cofrac, the French accreditation committee. Two narrow exemptions exist: bodies training local elected officials whose turnover from that activity is below €150,000, and subcontractors whose annual turnover is below €77,700.

The audit cycle, and the cliff edge when it lapses

Qualiopi is issued for three years. You request it from a certifying body accredited by Cofrac or France compétences and appearing on the Ministry of Labour's official list, sign a contract with them, and pass a mandatory initial audit. Renewal requires a renewal audit identical in format to the initial one, and the official guidance advises booking early because certifying bodies' lead times vary and the certificate can expire while you wait. The certifying body must then declare the certification to the Ministry, and it must appear on the public list of training organisations.

What happens if it lapses is unusually abrupt and worth planning around: you cannot add or update offers on EDOF, existing offers become invisible to account holders, and you cannot receive or validate new registration requests. You can only manage files already in progress. In other words a lapsed certificate does not merely pause new business — it removes your catalogue from view.

Getting referenced: the EDOF prerequisites

EDOF — the Espace des organismes de formation — is the platform where you submit a referencing request and then manage your catalogue. Before that request can succeed you need:

An active NDA (numéro de déclaration d'activité), issued by your regional DREETS, DRIEETS or DEETS control service. Qualiopi for each type of action you offer. Authorisation from the certification holder where a course leads to a certification registered in the RNCP or the RS. Compliance with legal, social and tax obligations, including filing your pedagogical and financial report and meeting accounting duties. And demonstrable pedagogical capacity to deliver CPF-eligible training, evidenced through trainers' diplomas or professional experience.

One point that is often misstated: not every CPF-eligible course has to lead to a registered certification. The RNCP or RS requirement bites only where a course does lead to one — and in that case you need the certification holder's authorisation, which is a commercial negotiation as much as an administrative step.

Failing any criterion has the same effect as a lapsed certificate: you cannot populate your catalogue and your offers stop appearing on Mon Compte Formation. The Caisse des Dépôts, which operates the scheme, can also delist a provider after notification for breaches of law or of the platform's terms.

A live change to the learner contribution

CPF is not a wholly free entitlement for the learner: a flat-rate contribution (participation forfaitaire, commonly called the reste à charge) applies, set by decree. A change to that contribution is currently working through the 2027 finance bill and is framed as applying to training requests validated from 2 October 2026.

Deliberately no figure here. At the time of writing the amount is a legislative proposal rather than settled law, published reporting disagrees on the number, and at least one account suggests the amount may not sit in the statute itself. Anyone pricing a CPF offer should confirm the current contribution against the published decree rather than a commentary piece — and should expect it to move.

How France compares with the other funded routes

France and Germany are both accreditation-gated, but they gate different things. Germany's AZAV approves the provider and each individual course, per location and per field of activity. France certifies the provider by type of action and then lets you list a catalogue, with the extra wrinkle of certification-holder authorisation for RNCP and RS courses. By contrast Malta's Investing in Skills requires no provider accreditation at all — the employer applies per programme — and Skillnet Ireland routes funding through sector networks.

The practical consequence for a non-French provider is that Qualiopi is the long pole. It is a three-year commitment with an audit cycle and a hard failure mode, and it has to be in place before any catalogue work begins. For wider context on the French market see ACCA recognition and careers in France, and for firms with obligations there, the anti-money-laundering duties on experts-comptables under the Code monétaire et financier. Our CPD courses are accredited, which is the starting point for any eligibility conversation.