Definition
A Monday in January, a bad case of flu or a broken wrist. The employee across the road calls the boss, goes back to bed, and the payslip still lands at the end of the month.
You open your diary instead: three meetings to cancel, a delivery pushed back a week, and no invoice to send.
Daily sickness benefit (indemnités journalières) is the amount Assurance Maladie, the French health insurance fund, pays for each day of Sick leave prescribed by a doctor, to replace part of the income lost.
A micro-entrepreneur is entitled to it too, for one simple reason: they already pay for it, inside their Social contributions charge.
It is not an insurance policy to buy, it is cover purchased with every euro collected.
What you already pay for it
The contribution rate is not a single levy: it is a flat-rate charge split across six lines, and one of them carries exactly this name.
In 2026, out of 100 euros of contributions paid to URSSAF, the social contributions collection agency, that line is worth 1.25 euros for the sale of goods and for BIC services, which cover commercial and craft activities.
It is worth 1.50 euros for a non-regulated professional taxed under BNC, the non-commercial profits category.
It falls to 0.80 euros for a professional attached to CIPAV, the pension fund for regulated liberal professions.
Here is the calculation over a full year. A non-regulated freelance designer collects 30,000 euros in 2026.
Her contributions come to 30,000 by 25.6%, so 7,680 euros: it is the only rate that moved on 1 January 2026, against 24.6% in 2025, and content still quoting the old figure understates both the charge and the line it funds.
The daily sickness benefit line accounts for 1.50% of that charge, which works out at 115.20 euros for the year, roughly 10 euros a month, to be covered if work stops.
A craft service provider on the same turnover pays 30,000 by 21.2%, so 6,360 euros of contributions, of which 79.50 euros go to the same line.
Two points the tables leave out. These percentages are shares of the charge, never percentages of your turnover.
And the overall rate covers neither the CFP (vocational training contribution), nor the chamber levy, nor income tax, all of which come on top.
On 1 January 2026 this internal split changed without the overall rate moving for sales, BIC services and Cipav members: CSG-CRDS (the general social levies) gave ground to the contributions that build entitlements.
Same amount taken, more rights bought.
Paying in is not the same as being paid out
A micro-entrepreneur's contribution is strictly proportional to what is collected: a quarter with no turnover costs nothing, and buys nothing.
A slow start, a quiet season, a business put on hold: none of those periods build any entitlement, even though the declaration was duly filed at zero.
And for the rights these contributions fund, the administration counts the contributions actually paid, not the ones shown on the declaration: falling behind costs you twice.
The rest depends on conditions that Assurance Maladie sets and alone confirms: a minimum period of affiliation, an average annual income above a floor, a waiting period before the first day is paid, and a capped daily amount.
This glossary refuses to publish any figure it has not checked against the official source and dated in the sentence.
These have not been: read them on the Assurance Maladie website and in your compte ameli (personal health insurance account), which are what count.
A figure copied from a blog post would have you build a budget on nothing.
Turnover, income, benefit: three different figures
This is the confusion that disappoints the most people on the day work stops. Assurance Maladie never thinks in turnover, it thinks in income.
And under the micro scheme, your Turnover is not your income: the administration first applies the Standard allowance for your category, which in 2026 is 71% for the sale of goods, 50% for BIC services and 34% for BNC.
Our designer collecting 30,000 euros sees her income cut to 30,000 euros less 34%, which works out at 19,800 euros.
That income figure, not what she collected, is the basis for the calculation.
Two neighbours not to mix up either.
Daily sickness benefit covers a temporary stop, whereas invalidity and death cover, another line of the same charge, takes over when incapacity becomes lasting.
Maternity leave follows its own rules, with a minimum duration and an allocation de repos maternel (maternity rest allowance).
As for Personal protection insurance, it is not a duplicate: it is a private contract whose whole purpose is to fill what the compulsory cover leaves out.
Frequently asked questions
Is a regulated professional attached to Cipav covered?
They pay into the same line as everyone else: in 2026, out of 100 euros of charge paid at the overall rate of 23.2%, 0.80 euros go to daily sickness benefit, against 1.50 euros for a professional under the general scheme.
The amount paid out and the conditions come from Assurance Maladie, not from the pension fund: your compte ameli is where the answer is confirmed.
Does Acre relief cost me this cover?
Acre lightens contributions, including the daily sickness benefit line itself, which is exempted alongside health and maternity, the basic pension, invalidity and death cover and family allowances, while CSG-CRDS, the CFP and the supplementary pension remain due.
Under the micro scheme that exemption is not read line by line on your statement: it takes the form of a reduced overall rate applied to all your turnover.
For pensions, the rule is written down: entitlements are calculated on the charge that would have been due without Acre, provided you are up to date with payment.
Have your own position confirmed by Assurance Maladie before counting on it.
Do benefits received have to be declared to URSSAF?
No, they are not turnover but replacement income. Your declaration is still due for the period, at zero if need be, and you enter only what clients actually paid you while you were off.
An invoice settled mid-convalescence counts; a benefit paid by Assurance Maladie does not.
Is private protection insurance still worth it?
Often yes, for an arithmetic reason: the compulsory charge buys a floor, calculated on income already reduced by the standard allowance, paid after a waiting period and under a daily cap.
A self-employed worker whose rent, equipment and insurance fall due every month weighs that floor against real fixed costs, then decides.
Shares of the charge and 2026 rates, checked on 5 September 2026.
Sick leave benefit calculator converts your turnover into a daily benefit, waiting days included.