Seanad debates

Tuesday, 21 March 2017

2:30 pm

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

I thank the House for the invitation to outline my Department’s activation polices and in particular the important role of the JobPath initiative. Getting and keeping a job is the most effective way that people can be lifted out of poverty, achieve financial independence and have improved living standards. As a result of the improvement in the economy and the range of activation activities carried out by the Department of Social Protection, much progress has been made in helping people to return to employment and in helping some people to get jobs for the first time. We are continuing with a range of programmes and JobPath, the subject of today’s debate, is making a real difference for people who are long-term unemployed. The results to date are positive and the feedback from those who have participated in the initiative has also been positive in a clear majority of cases.

The service is still in its early days and the employment outcome data, although promising, should therefore be treated as preliminary. It will take some time to build up a definitive view of the service. A small number of poor experiences by participants can attract negative commentary and there will always be people who have a bad experience of any programme, service or scheme but I want to assure the House that independent reviews of outcomes to date of the initiative are very positive.

The Government, in the Action Plan for Jobs and the Pathways to Work strategy, is targeting continuing strong economic recovery and employment growth, as well as ensuring that unemployed people benefit from the increases in employment.The action plan led by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation creates jobs, and Pathways to Work, led by my Department, ensures those who are on the live register get those jobs or at least a fair share of them. The economic recovery is unusual in Ireland in that employment growth has been matched almost equally with a fall in unemployment. This is proof positive that Pathways to Work is a success. Generally, growth in employment and falling unemployment are lag indicators in economic recovery, with economic growth happening first, employment rising later and unemployment only falling after that. In Ireland, unemployment has been falling since the beginning of the recovery and is falling as fast today as it has at any period in recent years.

The most recent data show that unemployment has fallen from a peak of more than 15% in 2012 to 6.6% last month, a rate which is lower than the EU average. The long-term unemployment rate peaked at 9.5% in the first quarter of 2012 before falling to 3.6% in the last quarter of last year. By the end of 2016, long-term unemployment accounted for 54% of all people unemployed, down from almost 65% in 2012. The number of long-term unemployed in the third quarter of 2016 was 80,000. This compares with 200,000 in early 2012.

The JobPath service was designed to augment and complement my Department’s existing employment service capacity, which is provided by Intreo, the local employment services and job clubs, as well as employment activation schemes like community employment, CE, Tús, Gateway and, formerly, JobBridge. The additional capacity provided through the JobPath service has allowed the Department to provide the type and intensity of services required by jobseekers, particularly those who are most distant from the labour market and find it hardest to get jobs and keep them. Many more jobseekers are getting one-to-one engagement and support than ever before. While I appreciate that for some that attention may be unwelcome, for most it is welcome.

How does it work? The JobPath service is based on the referral of long-term unemployed jobseekers. For the purposes of the JobPath service, all long-term unemployed people on the live register are categorised into groups based on how long they have been unemployed, for example, one to two years, two to three years and so on. Selection for referral to JobPath is by means of a stratified random sampling using these groupings. The objective is to ensure equity in selection and that the people referred are representative of the long-term cohort on the live register. Selection is carried out by my Department and not by the JobPath companies.

My Department refers each customer selected to JobPath for a period of 12 months. Two contractors are delivering the service: Turas Nua and Seetec. Generally speaking, Turas Nua provides services in the southern part of the State and Seetec in the northern part and Dublin. It is not unusual for Government services to be provided through private companies by means of contracting or outsourcing. Indeed, many community employment scheme sponsors and community service programmes are registered companies as well. Some even turn a profit. The contractors provide services from locations that are accessible to the customer by public transport or private motorised transport with a normal journey time or commute of no more than 60 minutes. Where such services are not provided, my Department will quickly engage with the provider to ensure they are provided or that our clients are helped to access services.

At a time when there is concern about the loss of post offices, banks and Garda stations in rural Ireland and small towns throughout the country, Seetec and Turas Nua offices are opening throughout the country, many in small towns, providing a local job service in local towns for the first time and creating employment in their own right. The JobPath service provider writes to each referred jobseeker inviting them to attend an initial information session presented jointly by an official from my Department and a representative of the contractor. The letter of invitation includes a standard notification to the customer about the need to engage with the provider and the nature of the services and support that will be provided. The subsequent information session provides customers with information on customer rights and responsibilities, the JobPath programme itself, the service provided by the contractor and a copy of the service statement. After attending an information session, customers are given an appointment for their first one-to-one meeting with a personal adviser. This meeting should take place as soon as possible after the information session. The date of this first one-to-one meeting is the start date of the 52-week engagement period on the programme.

When meeting their personal adviser, each customer receives a guaranteed baseline service, including a personal progression plan. The plan sets out the skills and competencies of the customer, identifies any obvious barriers to employment and helps the customer to identify his or her particular goals and interests in a return to employment. With the JobPath service, jobseekers have access to a personal adviser who works with them over two phases. In the first phase, which lasts for up to a year, the adviser provides practical assistance in searching, preparing for, securing and sustaining employment. The second phase starts when the jobseeker is successful in finding work. During this phase the personal adviser continues to work with the jobseeker to provide any extra support needed for a period of up to 12 months. This helps the client to stay in employment and hold on to the new job. It is a service we were never able to offer before.

When my Department refers a customer to JobPath, it requires the customer to engage appropriately with the service provider. The service provider is required to make every effort to encourage the customer to attend. Customers who do not attend or do not engage with the service can be referred back to the Department by the service provider. In such cases, my Department will examine the circumstances of non-attendance and seek to facilitate the customer’s engagement. I wish to stress that any decision regarding entitlement or payments being reduced or stopped can only be made by officials of my Department, officers designated by me using statutory instruments, and not by the JobPath companies. The rules are the same and apply to all jobseekers. One must be genuinely seeking work to receive a jobseeker’s allowance or benefit. Taxpayers are willing to support financially with their hard-earned tax euro people who are looking for work, but they should not have to pay for those who are making little or no effort to help themselves and find work.

JobPath is a payment by results model. All initial costs are borne by the companies, such as costs of premises, staff, etc. The companies are paid registration fees and job sustainment fees. A registration fee may be claimed only when a jobseeker has developed a personal progression plan. Job sustainment fees are payable for each 13-week period of sustained employment, up to a maximum of 52 weeks. The total payments to the JobPath companies amounted to €26.8 million in 2016. The jobs must be full time, that is, more than 30 hours a week, with some exceptions. This means JobPath companies are incentivised financially to assist people to find full-time jobs that they are likely to hold down and are therefore suited to. Precarious part-time employment that is not sustained provides little or no revenue or profits where the company is concerned.

The Department has recently published its first performance report on JobPath. Should Senators wish to examine it in more detail, this report is available on our website. The initial data on the impact of the service are very encouraging, showing high levels of satisfaction among clients of the service and that people who engage with the service are more likely to secure employment than those who do not. Employment outcome data show that compared with a similar group of people who did not take part in the service, people who availed of the service were 23% more likely to have started a job. The difference is more marked and even better for very long-term unemployed people. For those out of work for more than three years, some 44% were more likely to have found a job if they participated in JobPath than others out of work for as long who were not referred. These outcomes refer to full-time jobs of more than 30 hours a week. In short, JobPath works.

The results of an independent customer satisfaction survey recently undertaken indicates that jobseekers feel that they are receiving a good service and that JobPath has improved their chances of securing employment. Between 76% and 81% of customers were satisfied with the service provided and only between 5% and 8% expressed dissatisfaction. Over 90% of customers reported that JobPath staff made them feel valued and that they have a good relationship with their JobPath adviser. They also felt that the service had improved their chances of getting a job.

The service was implemented on a phased basis from June 2015 to July 2016. The numbers referred initially were low but this is increasing, with more than 82,000 customers referred to date. As has always been the case, we do not allow people to chop and change mid-stream between different services, programmes, courses or schemes. JobPath is no different. If someone is unsuccessful after a year’s effort on JobPath, they can become eligible for schemes like CE. This is a good approach, as it means they have tried and have been supported to try to get a regular job before falling back on schemes like CE and Tús.

It will take time to accumulate data on a sufficient number of clients who have completed their engagement period for a complete and robust assessment of the outcomes. The first statistics on outcomes were published in January 2017 and fresh statistics will be published each quarter, with the next release available next month.

The improvements in our economy are very encouraging and we are clearly experiencing a jobs-led and job-rich recovery. There are, however, no grounds for complacency.We know that for a variety of reasons it is hardest for those who are long-term unemployed to return to the workforce. JobPath is one of the targeted measures introduced by my Department to assist those returning to the workforce. The results are encouraging and exceeding expectations. We hope to see the continued successful delivery of the service, in conjunction with other activation measures, including local employment services which now have reduced caseloads, jobs clubs, community employment and Tús.

I again thank Members for giving me the opportunity to speak and look forward to our discussion on the matter.

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