Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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841. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider abolishing or extending the three-year rule on community employment schemes as a result of lost time on the scheme due to Covid-19 and the difficulties that can be experienced in replacing participants in local communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20079/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Community Employment CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis.

In general, the period of participation on CE is for one year.  However, CE participants who are working towards a major award or industry qualification can seek to extend participation by up to a further two years.

During the Covid-19 emergency, my Department continued to provide the necessary funding for CE schemes while also introducing a number of contingency measures.  These measures included the extension of all existing CE participant contracts for the duration of the emergency.

Now that the country has begun the process of returning to normal operations and in keeping with the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, the contingency measures have concluded and the recruitment of new CE participants is actively underway.

Those CE participants who had their contracts extended during the emergency period are now finishing up on their schemes on a phased basis over the coming period and further extensions will not be granted. 

The priority for my Department is to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants.  Places on CE will continue to be available to support those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market while maintaining the role of CE as an active labour market programme.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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842. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider abolishing or extending the six-year rule on community employment schemes for those aged over 55 years of age in view of the fact they are close to pension age; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20080/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Community Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for prospective future employment. It helps to break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market.

A number of new conditions were introduced on CE in July 2017 to further support progression and broaden access to CE to a wider range of people. In general, all CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years will be for 1 year.  However, CE participants who are working towards a major educational or training award can seek to extend participation by up to two years to enable them to reach the required standard of qualification. In addition, those over 55 years of age can remain on CE for three years.

An overall lifetime limit of 6 years will apply to all CE participants (7 years for those from a disability payment). A person may re-qualify for CE after 12 months of being in receipt of a qualifying payment, provided they have not reached their lifetime limit.

Participants over age 62 are allowed to participate on a continuous basis up to the State Pension age on the CE Service Support Stream (SSS), subject to availability of places on the SSS, satisfactory performance on the scheme and to annual approval by the Department. The places allocated for these participants within each individual CE scheme are subject to limitation criteria.

The Department has no current plans to abolish or to extend the six-year rule on CE schemes for those aged over 55.  I am mindful of ensuring that there is capacity on the scheme, within the financial allocation available to my Department, to enable new jobseekers access the work experience and training opportunities available through Community Employment.