Mr. John Conlon:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before it today to discuss the JobPath employment service. I am joined by my colleagues Mr. Chris Kane, principal officer with responsibility for contracted employment services and Mr Jim Lynch, principal officer with responsibility for operations and service delivery in the Limerick region.

It would be useful to set out for committee members some of the background to the JobPath service, how it operates and how it is monitored by the Department as well as some other issues in which I understand the committee is interested. The need for additional resources to provide activation support for unemployed people became increasingly acute during the economic downturn. Increased use of contracting, including with the private sector, was identified as an appropriate and necessary part of the response to this challenge in the National Economic and Social Council report on support and services for unemployed jobseekers in 2011. Contracting is considered to be the most appropriate approach to augmenting resource capacity to deliver services during a period of peak demand. Given the Government decision to intensify the level of service provided to people who are long-term unemployed, as set out in the Pathways to Work policy statement from July 2013, the additional capacity secured under the JobPath contracts is focused on supporting people who are long-term unemployed.

Internationally, contracted models similar to JobPath were first developed in the 1980s and are commonplace in many OECD countries.

The planning and design of JobPath drew on extensive research and experience elsewhere and took account of OECD reports on labour market activation and experience in countries such as the UK, Australia, Germany, Holland, France, Norway, Japan and Finland. In addition, the Department engaged the independent Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion in London to advise on the design of JobPath. Consultations were also held with the Department for Work and Pensions in Great Britain and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland. Advice was also obtained from leading academics, such as Professor Dan Finn, University of Portsmouth, and also from the NESC, ESRI, the Geary Institute in UCD and NUI Maynooth. The planning and design was overseen by an interdepartmental board, chaired by the Department. The Department also held a number of consultative fora with interested stakeholders as part of the process of finalising the procurement process.

The roll-out of JobPath commenced in July 2015 on a so-called soft launch basis and was completed in June 2016. All counties now have a JobPath service. The service is delivered in more than 80 locations throughout the country. Some 151,000 people engaged with the JobPath service up to the end of February 2018.

Through the JobPath employment service, jobseekers receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to find jobs. Each person is assigned a personal adviser who assesses their skills, experience, challenges and work goals and agrees a personal progression plan that includes a schedule of activities, actions and job-focused targets. Jobseekers are provided with a range of development supports. They may spend up to a year with the service, during which time they may also spend additional periods undertaking educational or training courses. If the person secures employment, he or she may continue to receive support for up to a year.

I emphasise thatJobPath has not replaced any existing service provision, either that provided directly by staff within the Department or that provided under other external activation services. Its purpose is to complement and augment our core capacity and to enable the Department to adapt the total level of resourcing in a flexible manner in line with variations in demand for employment services. The use of contracting in such circumstances is provided for under the Towards 2016, Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements, as confirmed by the findings of the independent arbitration board established under these agreements. I emphasise thatJobPath does not have any negative impact on the existing local employment service, LES, and Jobs Club services. The Department has continued its contractual arrangements with the LES and Jobs Club providers following the introduction of JobPath.

Committee members may be familiar with criticisms of the model of contracting that had evolved in Great Britain. It should be noted that the JobPath contract model differs significantly from the Great Britain model, and the Department is satisfied, based on the inputs and advices received, to which I referred, that the JobPath design addresses the perceived deficiencies of that model, in particular with regard to issues such as what are referred to as cream skimming or parking, which is where hard-to-place jobseekers are parked and contractors focus on easy-to-place clients, and also customer service obligations and employment sustainability. Customers are referred to providers on the basis of the duration on the live register in that they must have been unemployed or underemployed for more than one year. The referral process does not allow for pre-screening in respect of various factors, for example, qualifications or likelihood of exit from unemployment.

Taking account of the advice and feedback received and our own analysis of the performance, benefits and risks associated with contracting models in other countries, we designed JobPath over the period 2012 to 2013. The key elements of the design are that JobPath would support the long-term unemployed; the Department selects all the clients that are referred, and the JobPath contractors have no say whatsoever in the selection of clients; the period of engagement on the programme for any individual client is for up to 52 weeks; unlike in Great Britain, jobseekers can be referred, and have access, to further education and training opportunities while on JobPath; every participant is guaranteed a baseline level of service – a service guarantee – ensuring that all participants receive support to develop a personal progression plan, regular one-to-one and face-to-face meetings with personal advisers at a frequency of at least once per month, assistance with CV and job interview preparation, job search assistance, and in-work support; and JobPath providers have flexibility in addressing whatever barriers a jobseeker may have in securing employment, for example, child care support, travel expenses, training on basic literacy skills, computer skills and other work-specific skills.

JobPath is a payment-by-results model, and all costs, including for the establishment, fitting out and staffing of offices have been borne by the companies. Payments to contractors are contingent on the providers meeting minimum service standards and minimum performance levels. The companies are paid a registration fee for each client who engages with them. When a person secures employment, a job sustainment fee is payable upon completion of each 13 week period of sustained employment of no less than 30 hours per week.

To the end of December 2017, a total of €84 million was paid to both contractors. This is broken down as follows: €1.2 million in 2015, €25.2 million in 2016, and €54 million in 2017. The Department is not publishing the individual payments to the JobPath companies as these are commercially sensitive. To do so would place the State at a disadvantage both in terms of the contracts now in place and any future procurement that may be undertaken.

In January 2018, the Department published the most recent report on the performance of the service for those referred over the period from quarter 3 of 2015 to quarter 2 of 2016. These data are preliminary and are based on only 25% of those who have engaged with the service. Nevertheless, they are encouraging. The headline figure for total employment outcomes, that is, people who have secured employment during the period of their engagement, for those referred to the service up to June 2016 was 25%. Some 18% of jobseekers who engaged with the service during this period obtained full-time employment. A further 4% entered part-time employment and a further 3% became self-employed.

The key findings so far are that employment outcomes improve the longer a customer is engaged with the service, and the outcomes so far are good for those who have been unemployed for three years or more. This cohort has been disengaged from the labour market for a significant period and has traditionally been the most difficult to assist in a return to employment. This is a very positive experience for those customers who secured and sustained employment, and it is welcome. We can expect the reported outcomes to improve over time, as over 80% of the 39,000 people covered in these reports were referred to the service in the first six months of 2016.

As I have mentioned, these data are limited to a particular timeframe and involve a small size relative to the overall number referred. Conscious of these limitations, the Department is undertaking a full econometric review of the JobPath strand of its activation services. This review will involve much more in-depth analysis to assess performance to date and to understand the interventions that have benefited the customers and to be able to analyse the impacts on a range of factors, such as age, gender and educational attainment. Completion of the review is scheduled for the end of quarter 3 of 2018, following which more detailed and robust statistics will be available.

The Department has published the results of two independently conducted JobPath customer satisfaction surveys since the commencement of the service. These surveys indicate consistently high and improving levels of satisfaction with all aspects of the service provided. Most encouraging is the high number of clients who feel the service has improved their chance of getting a job.

The findings can be summarised as follows: overall satisfaction has improved from a mean score of 4.05 in 2016 to 4.26 in 2017 out of a total score of5; scores across the key areas of offices, staff, services and processes are very strong and all scores have improved significantly by comparison with the previous year; and strongest improvementsare noted in the performance of JobPath providers delivering a good understanding of the service being offered at the first group meeting, timely organisation of the first meeting within two weeks of the group session, and personal adviser aid to develop a personal progression plan.

Participants with the JobPath service are not required to sign a contract with the JobPath companies but, in the same manner as all customers referred to the Department's internal and external activation services, they are requested to agree to and sign a personal progression plan. The plan includes an agreed schedule of job-focused activities, actions and targets personalised to take account of the person's specific qualifications and employment preferences. Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them to address barriers to employment.

JobPath participants receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment. The contents of the personal progression plan will probably change during the person's engagement with the service as he or she develops new skills or experience which may broaden his or her employment options.

All jobseekers are required to engage with the Department's activation services. This applies regardless of whether the service is provided by the Department's own case officers or those employed by contracted companies. A failure to engage with the Department's activation services or to take up a suitable job opportunity may result in the application of a sanction, but all decisions regarding a person's social welfare entitlements are taken by departmental officials. The JobPath companies may neither recommend nor apply a sanction to a jobseeker. They are required to advise the Department when a customer does not engage or co-operate with the service. The process for sanctioning clients who do not engage with the JobPath activation process is exactly the same as the process for clients who fail to engage with the Department's own activation services. Any decision regarding a person's welfare entitlements while on JobPath or with any of the activation services are taken only by departmental officials and not by contracted providers. The application of a sanction to a jobseeker's payment is governed by the provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended by the 2013 Act. Jobseekers can request a deciding officer to review the decision or appeal the deciding officer's decision to the social welfare appeals office.

I know some members have visited the offices of the JobPath providers in their constituencies. I extend an invitation to members to visit the JobPath providers in their areas. We would be delighted to assist them in arranging such visits. I thank the committee. I would be glad to take any questions.