OPCO funding in France: procedures, conditions and the 11 OPCOs

What is an OPCO?

Skills operators replaced the former OPCAs in 2019. Their missions are set by Article L6332-1 of the French Labour Code. They:

• fund apprenticeship and professionalisation contracts, at the funding levels set by the branches;
• fund retraining periods since 1 January 2026, within the allocation paid by France compétences (the national funding and regulation body);
• provide technical support to branches, in particular for forward planning of jobs and skills;
• provide a local service to very small, small and medium-sized companies to help them define their training needs;
• fund, in companies with fewer than 50 employees, health, safety and working conditions training for members of the employee delegation to the CSE (the employee representative body) and the designated representative;
• check that the training they fund is actually delivered and of adequate quality.

Since 2022, OPCOs no longer collect the statutory training contribution, which is collected by Urssaf or the MSA.

What are the 11 OPCOs?

The list below shows the eleven approved operators named in the order of 3 February 2025 appointing government commissioners to the OPCOs, with their official names as published by the public "Conseillers entreprises" service.

OPCO	Official name	Website
Afdas	Opérateur de compétences Afdas	afdas.com
AKTO	Opérateur de compétences AKTO (labour-intensive services)	akto.fr
Atlas	Opérateur de compétences Atlas	opco-atlas.fr
Constructys	Opérateur de compétences de la construction	constructys.fr
OCAPIAT	Opérateur de compétences pour la coopération agricole, l'agriculture, la pêche, l'industrie agroalimentaire et les territoires	ocapiat.fr
OPCO 2i	Opérateur de compétences interindustriel	opco2i.fr
OPCO EP	Opérateur de compétences des entreprises de proximité	opcoep.fr
OPCO Mobilités	Opérateur de compétences des métiers de la mobilité	opcomobilites.fr
OPCO Santé	Opérateur de compétences du secteur privé de la santé	opco-sante.fr
Opcommerce	Opérateur de compétences du commerce	lopcommerce.com
Uniformation	Opérateur de compétences de la cohésion sociale	uniformation.fr

A company does not choose its OPCO: it depends on its collective agreement, identified by its IDCC code. France compétences provides a search engine that gives the OPCO from the IDCC code or, failing that, from the département and main activity.

Who can receive funding?

Situation	What the OPCO can fund
Company with fewer than 50 employees	Actions in the skills development plan (training fees, trainee's pay, related costs), top-ups to personal training accounts (CPF), diagnostics and support (Article L6332-17)
Company with 50 employees or more	No funding of the plan from statutory contributions; possible funding from a collectively agreed branch contribution
Any company hiring work-study students	Apprenticeship and professionalisation contracts, at the levels set by the branch
Employee on a retraining period	Training fees and, in some cases, pay and related costs where an agreement provides for it

In all cases, the training provider must hold the national quality certification (Qualiopi) for the OPCO to fund the action (Article L6316-1).

Which steps should you follow?

1. Identify your OPCO from the IDCC code of your collective agreement.
2. Check your branch's criteria on the OPCO's website: priority actions, ceilings, durations, required documents.
3. Choose a certified provider and obtain a quote and a programme.
4. Submit the request in the OPCO's online portal, before the training starts. Deadlines vary: as of 10 October 2026, for example, Opco EP asks for requests to be entered at least one month before the start of the course to guarantee an answer before the training begins.
5. Send the supporting documents requested after the training, since the OPCO is responsible for checking that the actions it funds have been delivered.

For work-study, the apprenticeship contract is sent to the OPCO, which registers it (Article L6224-1).

What varies from one OPCO to another?

Almost everything to do with amounts. Each OPCO's board sets the funding terms and priorities (Article L6332-17), on proposals from the branches for some schemes. In practice, the following vary by OPCO and branch:

• ceilings, expressed for example per hour or per day of training;
• priority actions and target groups;
• whether wages and related costs are covered;
• submission deadlines and supporting documents.

We deliberately give no amounts: the scales are specific to each branch and can change during the year. The only reliable source is your OPCO's "funding criteria" page, or your adviser.