Mr. John McKeon:

There was a High Court case where the plaintiff was refused leave. As such, it was never considered by the court. The Department's policy is that only it can determine whether a person's payment can be cut. The process is that if Turas Nua, Seetec, a local employment service, a community employment scheme or our own Intreo staff find a jobseeker is not engaging with the process, the matter is referred to a deciding officer in the Department. The deciding officer calls the individual in, has a conversation with him or her and provides a verbal warning. If he or she does not respond to that warning, he or she is given a written warning. If, after a written warning, he or she does not comply with the service, he or she will then have a reduced rate of payment. In doing that, the deciding officer will assess whether it is a case of genuine non-compliance. It is not the case that every jobseeker referred to the Department by an Intreo or JobPath case officer will have a penalty or reduced rate of payment imposed. The deciding officer will form a view. If someone has not signed a personal progression plan but the evidence is that he or she is turning up for meetings and engaging in CV courses and mock interviews, a reduced rate will not apply. A reduced rate can always be lifted as soon as someone starts to comply, which is important. We noted in our supplementary information that the penalty rate among JobPath clients is approximately 0.6%, which is exactly the same as the penalty rate among Intreo clients who are not with JobPath. It is no greater.