Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

Probably the best way to put it is if somebody goes into an Intreo office now because he or she has become unemployed or has never worked but is looking for employment and looking to access both activation services and income support, the first thing we will do is capture a history of that individual. We will register such individuals for a public service card, we will capture their educational and work history, that is, the kind of skills and expertise that they may or may not have, and on the basis of that information we will calculate a score which is related to what is called the probability of exit, a PEX score. The PEX score can be high, medium or low, but the critical point is that the score will determine the intensity of engagement that we have with that individual over the coming weeks and months.

All who come in to register with us will be invited to a group information session where they will be given all kinds of information in regard to their entitlements, but also the kind of supports and schemes that might be available to them. For those who have a low PEX score who are deemed to be in most need of support, within a very short space of time they will be scheduled for a one-to-one engagement with a case officer and they will develop with the case officer a personal progression plan, which will involve them looking at addressing some of the skills deficits or basic needs that they might have, or looking at whether other education or training might be beneficial, and then referring to that.