Dáil debates
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
Topical Issue Debate
JobsPlus Scheme
5:55 pm
Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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I want to address improvements needed in the JobsPlus scheme, a worthy Government scheme that was launched to great fanfare in my constituency of Waterford last year. Many exciting companies participate in the scheme and speak highly of it, including Eishtec, a locally-owned Waterford company. It encourages and rewards employers that employ jobseekers from the live register. It is designed to encourage employers and businesses to employ people who have been out of work for long periods. Employers get a payment of €7,500 for each citizen recruited who has been unemployed for more than 12 months but less than 24 months and if that person is long-term unemployed the employer gets a payment of up to €10,000 for each such person recruited, but the scheme is far from perfect.
There is an issue in terms of equality of access to this scheme and it seems that JobsPlus is discriminating against lone parents. I am sorry to find myself having to point out that, according to the rules of JobsPlus, a person in receipt of a one-parent family payment is not considered eligible given the focus of the scheme. A single parent getting the one-parent family payment may be eligible to do a springboard programme and the State will give some support in terms of re-entering education. After that, a person who has completed a springboard course might decide to get some experience. However, after education and training a person who was unemployed should, in theory, be able to get a job. Despite having done all this and jumped through various hoops, a person getting the one-parent family payment who is more than 12 months unemployed cannot take part in the JobsPlus scheme. I argue that this amounts to discrimination and said so to the Department of Social Protection.
In reality, if an employer is faced with two possible candidates with similar skills and training but one comes with a guarantee of €10,000 through the JobsPlus scheme and the other is a single parent with no such incentive then who will he or she opt for? With so many businesses and companies struggling in a tough economy the payment incentive that an employee might be able to bring to the table is attractive to employers. We are informed by the Department of Social Protection that periods spent under JobBridge are counted towards eligibility, so why is there deemed to be a difference between a mother trying to get back to work and the long-term unemployed? The answer we get from the Department of Social Protection is that the focus of the scheme does not lie with single mothers.
As I said at the outset, JobsPlus is aimed at people on the live register. Governments like to see the live register coming down and, indeed, the number on the live register dropped by almost 7.5% in Waterford during the past year. However, for people who are flying under the radar, such as those on the one-parent family payment, and are not on the live register, JobsPlus is closed off. Is JobsPlus simply a way of manipulating the live register figures? It is a cynical view, but we need to make sure that people who need this scheme are not being discriminated against.
I call on the Department and the Minister to ensure the JobsPlus scheme is extended to single parents who want to get back to work, given the new focus and cut offs implemented by the Department of Social Protection for people in receipt of lone parent payments.
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton. Support for job creation is central to Government policy. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have re-emphasised this commitment in their statement of Government priorities for the remaining lifetime of this Administration.
Pathways to Work and the action plan for jobs set out the key frameworks within which activation and job creation policies are developed and delivered. Pathways to Work aims to move at least 22,500 long-term unemployed people into employment this year and a total of at least 75,000 by end of 2015. Therefore, the focus of the Tánaiste is to concentrate resources on the long-term unemployed via the various schemes under her Department. JobsPlus replaces two previous schemes that were seen as complicated and difficult to access for employers. This new simplified incentive scheme is working, as shown by feedback from employers and the fact that the initial target of 2,500 jobs has been exceeded earlier than expected.
JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who recruit employees from those who are long-term unemployed and the JobsPlus incentive is biased in favour of those who are long-term unemployed. It provides employers with two levels of payment, €7,500 and €10,000, and is paid in monthly instalments over a two year period, provided the employment is maintained. To qualify for the €7,500 incentive a jobseeker must be at least 12 months on the live register in the previous 18 months. For the higher incentive of €10,000 over two years, a jobseeker must be at least 24 months on the live register in the previous 30 months. These are direct grants paid to the employer if they maintain the employment for the full two years.
From its launch in July 2013 to the end of June 2014, JobsPlus has supported 2,634 jobseekers in full-time employment with over 2,000 employers nationally. Approximately 60% of jobseekers thus supported had been on the live register for over 24 months at the time of recruitment, proving the success for the scheme. A provision of €13.5 million has been included in the Vote for the Department for the scheme in 2014. On the basis of the current pace of applications and expenditure, this provision is considered to be adequate to meet the projected costs of the scheme in 2014.
Special arrangements have been have been introduced to ease the effects of the changes in one-parent family payments, including the introduction of the jobseeker transitional payment. The Minister for Social Protection hopes to be in a position to extend eligibility for JobsPlus to those who qualify for the jobseeker transitional payment in the coming months. The Department is currently completing a review of the initial phase of implementation of JobsPlus. The outcome of this work will inform any proposals for the development and expansion of the scheme. Employer feedback has been positive and the key objective of putting an easy-to-access system in place has been achieved.
While the review will consider a range of matters, including uptake, costs and benefits, altering eligibility requirements and whether changes are needed to improve access and administration, the Tánaiste has informed me that she has asked that the review also consider whether further extension of the eligibility requirements is warranted. However, this, of course, will be subject to budgetary considerations.
Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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I thank the Minister. The Tánaiste's response as outlined became more positive as it went on.
Perhaps allowing a jobseeker's transitional payment recipient to be eligible for JobsPlus is very welcome. Given the Government's thrust towards activation and trying to upskill, educate and motivate people to re-engage in working and seeking work, nobody taking the opportunities afforded to them through education and training should be held back because of a lone parent's payment. The reforms made to the lone parent's allowance means when children reach a certain age, the parent must go on jobseeker's allowance. We will have a limbo for parents who want to get back to work and who may have completed a course or JobsBridge programme as we will ask them to wait until they ratchet up their eligibility while in receipt of jobseeker's payment. This is not the type of proactive social welfare system we want to see. We want to see people who are eager to get back to work being given every opportunity. In financial and real terms for employers, and I agree employers have very warmly responded and welcomed the changes we made to the very cumbersome PRSI scheme which existed, if it comes to employing somebody coming with lone parent's allowance versus somebody with the added incentive of JobsBridge, I can see why they might pick the latter. We need to address this and not allow these parents to linger in limbo.
6:05 pm
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In her initial contribution the Deputy asked a very straightforward question as to whether JobsPlus was a cynical way to manipulate the live register. I can say this is certainly not the case. I was involved in some of the discussions on this at Cabinet level. The intention was always to give people who have been on the live register for a long period a fair go, because employers are generally less inclined to hire somebody who has been on the dole for a long period. It was really just give them an extra leg up and a fair go when it came to the employment market. As the Deputy knows, with the social welfare and medical card systems, or any such system, every time one does something one creates a new anomaly or potentially a new injustice. What the Deputy is pointing to here is the fact that single parents who lose their one-parent family payment and are trying to get back into work may now be at a disadvantage over people who have been long-term unemployed who are now more likely to be hired because of this. I totally get what the Deputy is saying. It is progress that the Minister, Deputy Burton, has suggested it could be extended to those on the jobseeker's transitional payment. When I see her in the coming days I will mention it to her. Deputy Conway's point is well made. I am not sure how to solve it without creating another problem, but that is the nature of these schemes, unfortunately.