Mr. John McKeon:

Maybe I will describe JobPath. It is not to replace any other programme. JobPath is a service where we contracted in additional casework support. JobPath is a casework or case management service. Although the live register is falling, we still have many clients who are long-term unemployed. I mentioned in my opening statement that international evidence and our own research indicates the most effective support in helping clients get back to work is the job search assistance, the counselling and the personal progression planning. That is hugely resource intensive, when one has a large live register and a large number of clients who are long-term unemployed. JobPath is simply a way of contracting in an additional resource to provide that service, the same way our own case managers in Intreo provide a service and the same way local employment service staff provide a service to complement and supplement that capacity.

JobPath is not a programme. It is a service to jobseekers where we have people who will meet them, help them identify their own strengths and weaknesses, identify what jobs in the market are suitable for them, and help them with getting access to training and delivering some training, particularly around softer skills, such as writing a CV, doing interviews, etc. That is the service. It is no more or less than that.

In terms of the contract itself, it is what we call a payment by results contract. We only pay the contractors if they get clients into work and that work is sustained. The payments are made for every 13 weeks that a person is in employment of more than 30 hours per week. The person has to get into work, that job must be a 30 hours per week job and it has to last at least 13 weeks. Then they get a payment, and there are potentially four payments over 12 months, one payment per quarter. The job has to be sustained. It is not merely a matter of putting somebody into a job, ticking the box and then six weeks later the person leaves the job because it did not suit him or her. There is no point in trying to force somebody into a job he or she will not stick at. That is one of the controls.

We have other controls. For example, there is a code of practice, what we call a customer commitment or customer service charter, that every JobPath company has to abide by. They have to publish it. They are meant to hand it to the clients. We have an independent customer satisfaction survey and the first one of those is in the field at present asking those who have been referred to JobPath their opinion of the service. If they do not meet a minimum level on that survey, their payments to JobPath contractors are reduced. Therefore, there is a penalty payment regime. We have inspectors who inspect the services to ensure they are being delivered in the way that they are meant to be delivered. If the inspectors find that the schemes are not working, we can impose payment penalties on the JobPath providers.

Deputy Mitchell raised a question about sanctions. The JobPath providers cannot impose sanctions.

Where a person is not engaging, it is referred back to our deciding officers who will look at it afresh. The process we take in the Department on sanctions is a two strikes and you are out approach. I hate to use this language but it is just to explain. A person comes in and is told that the evidence indicates he or she has not been looking for work or that he or she has not been turning up for meetings with his or her case officer and that if this keeps up, a penalty will have to be imposed. We ask that the person engage with his or her case officer and explain that if he or she comes back a second time, a penalty will be imposed. It is a two strikes and you are out approach. It is only the Department that can do that.

The example was given of a 62 year old. I will follow that one up. Everybody who is on the live register regardless of age is supposed to be looking for work. That is the condition of the payment. Given that we are increasing the pension age, 62 now is not the same as it was 15 or 20 years ago. There are many people in the Houses of the Oireachtas and in government who are a good bit older than 62, for example. Everybody has the potential to work. We expect them to take, as we do, a pragmatic approach. There is a general process which is applied but there will always be people at the edges and about whom one must be a bit more sensitive and deal with differently. As such, I will take that up.

I have met the JobPath providers frequently and I have been genuinely impressed by them. I am not saying that just because I am within the Department. The feedback we get is very positive in general. I was asked about the number of complaints. At this point in time, 60,000 people have been referred to JobPath and we have received 117 complaints, which is less than 0.2%. There is a complaints process which is published and the offices I have visited have had it on display. If one has a complaint, it sets out the route to take. In our own service and in local employment and community employment services, we refer complaints received within the Department back to the front line in the first instance because that is the best space to resolve complaints. We then get a report on whether the complaint has been resolved. To date, approximately 70 of the 117 complaints have been resolved and the balance are outstanding. The biggest complaint is, "I do not want to do this. I have been unemployed for 12 or 15 years." Many people are in that category and they would ask whether we would not be better off trying to activate a younger person rather than them. That is not necessarily from 62 year olds. It is from people in their 50s as well. People might initially be a little fearful of this but once they get over that, our experience is positive on the whole. I emphasise that it is just about case work. It is not a programme.