Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The jobseeker's schemes provide income support for people who are seeking their first job or have lost work and are seeking alternative employment. A fundamental qualifying condition for the jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance is that a person must be available for and genuinely seeking full-time work.

To satisfy this condition, it is necessary for the person to demonstrate that he or she has taken some positive action and is making genuine efforts to secure employment. If a person fails to satisfy this condition his or her claim will be disallowed. In addition, an unreasonable refusal to accept an offer of suitable employment may also lead to disallowance.

A key objective of the Government is to offer a high level of appropriate employment support and to prioritise the provision of more intensive support for those on the live register who are identified as being most at risk of long-term unemployment. This will be achieved through the use of proactive approaches and modern case management systems.

The national employment action plan, NEAP, is the main activation measure for jobseekers and provides for a systematic engagement of the employment services with unemployed people. The national employment action plan process is a key element in addressing the progression needs of those on the live register. It provides a stimulus to job search and affords an opportunity to explore, under professional guidance, the full range of employment and training services offered by FÁS.

As one pillar of this overall approach, reduced rates were provided for by the previous Government in the Social Welfare Act 2010, which will encourage jobseekers to improve their skills to avoid the risk of becoming long-term unemployed and help them to progress into sustainable employment on a long-term basis. The intent of the reduced rates is to ensure compliance with the activation processes. Basically, there is a right to a payment but also a matching responsibility on the unemployed person to engage with the system.

The reduced rates, which apply to personal jobseeker's payments, may be implemented where a jobseeker refuses an appropriate offer of training by an officer of my Department; refuses, or declines to avail of, an offer of training from FÁS; declines an intervention under the national employment action plan; does not attend NEAP meetings with a FÁS officer; drops out of the NEAP process.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House:

The relevant legislation provides safeguards for the social welfare recipient in terms of the reasonableness of the intervention being offered. In common with many social welfare provisions, the new measures allow for discretion on the part of a deciding officer, as an offer of training, education or employment must be viewed in the context of a person's circumstances. Where a customer has been subject to the reduced rate, the normal rate of payment will be restored from a current date when the person subsequently engages with the NEAP process or takes up offers of training that were made.

See this speech in context