Mr. John Conlon:

I want to talk about personal progression plans for a moment as I believe there is a context that needs to be explained. Deputy Brady asked a very direct question as to whether it is a contract. It is not. It is an agreement between the client - the person who is receiving jobseeker payments - and their personal adviser as to how they agree to proceed in terms of making them more job-ready and seeking employment. There is no direct penalty if a person does not sign a personal progression plan.

We make decisions on whether a person has a continuing entitlement to a jobseeker's payment in the round. The legislation requires people to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Seeking work is part of activation services and getting people work ready. While a refusal to sign a personal progression plan may not mean that a sanction will be applied, our deciding officer should be looking at decisions in the round and having regard to that and whether the person is participating in JobPath or any other activation service we offer and is continuously seeking employment. That has to be taken in the round, not of itself, but deciding officers should be looking at the person's overall capacity of engagement with the service, of seeking employment and continuing to do so.