Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My Department has contracts with 22 local employment service providers for 2017, the same number as 2016. Local employment services, LES, form part of the State’s employment service and funding for the provision of the LES service has been maintained for 2017 at the 2016 levels of €20 million.

The LES is one element of the overall activation service being delivered by my Department, which also includes our own Intreo service and the contracted JobPath service. They each provide unemployed jobseekers with advice and assistance to identify, pursue and secure employment. In addition, local employment services provide activation supports to six other target groups most distant from the labour market including refugees, people with disabilities and Travellers.

Prior to the introduction of Intreo and JobPath, my Department had approximately 300 case officers, which included LES contracted staff, to serve over 460,000 people on the live register. That was equivalent to a case load of over 1,500 jobseekers per case officer as against international benchmarks for best practice in the delivery of such services of less than 200 per case officer.

In developing the Intreo service and introducing JobPath, the total number of case officers has increased to approximately 1,200. Combined with the very welcome reduction in the number of people on the live register - from a peak of over 460,000 in July 2012 to about 275,000 today - the average caseload is now around 230:1.

This reduction in unemployment has also allowed my Department to increase the quality of case officer support to people who face the most difficult challenges in finding employment. These jobseekers are typically long-term unemployed and are dealt with either by the local employment service or by JobPath. In line with international norms, my Department is seeking to maintain the case load for this cohort at no more than 125 per case officer.

In order to achieve this level of case officer support, my Department has reduced the number of people referred to local employment services but has asked the providers to increase the time they allocate to work with each individual jobseeker to provide a more enhanced and higher quality service. This should result in reduced pressure on the service and also an improved level of service for jobseekers, which focuses on quality outcomes.

A customer may be referred to the LES where, following a 12 month engagement with Intreo or JobPath, they are not pursuing an education or training programme or have not secured sustainable employment. As I have indicated, the future role of the local employment service and its employees will have a sharper focus on qualitative outcomes for clients referred by my Department.