No legal definition of “essential services” features in French law, at either national, regional or local levels. The concept, which comes from the development field, is known but rarely employed in France, probably because it does not fit in with the egalitarian approach of public service and general interest that characterise French social policy. The various types of assistance for services considered as essential in this report are usually put in place by local authorities or service-providing organisations and involve a range of criteria. Low income is only one criterion among others, which include age, professional or household situation, and health status. When income is an essential factor, rather than a precise figure, the most frequent reference point is whether the applicant is a recipient of minimum social benefits. Most of the problems faced by people in difficulty, whether involving water, sanitation, energy, transport or digital issues, are about everyday use rather than availability, which is usually guaranteed by the development of infrastructures. In terms of the right to a bank account, once again difficulties concern usage more than access. Some inhabitants living in mainland France, and even more so in the French overseas territories, are faced with the real impossibility of accessing essential services. This miscellaneous population includes homeless people, people living in insanitary housing or social hostels, in caravans installed on undeveloped land, or in tents on the street, and comprises a large number of refugees, travellers and people evicted from their homes. The situation of this group of people is very different from that of very-low-income households, who struggle to pay their water, gas and electricity bills, and do not make journeys because they cannot afford to pay for fuel or train tickets. Because the legal notion of essential services does not exist, there is no general policy on financing these services for people on low incomes. However, the implementation in 1988 of a minimum-income benefit (revenue minimum d’insertion), which became active solidarity income (revenu de solidarité active – RSA) in 2008, was devised to provide the most deprived people with the financial conditions to ensure their minimum needs were satisfied. Since minimum social benefits, including the RSA, proved insufficient to meet the needs of population groups in poverty, over the years, occasional, specific social assistance has developed to enable access to water, energy and transport. This assistance can take the more traditional form of social assistance, but can also combine different approaches, such as assistance for low-income people and social support for the ecological transition. The most recent policies, centred on water, transport, energy and digital services, put little emphasis on personal assistance and instead provide local authorities and service providers with a clear framework to develop such support. The final part of this report provides an analysis of energy-focused assistance. Aid in this area combines action to combat energy insecurity affecting individuals (i.e. absence of household – and collective – resources, badly built housing) with support for the energy transition, which was at the root of the “yellow vest” crisis.