Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 452: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason the eligibility criteria for persons wishing to avail of the back to work enterprise allowance in the case of recipients of disability allowance is three years while in the case of all other categories the limit has been reduced to two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14972/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The qualifying period for people on disability allowance who wish to avail of the back to work enterprise allowance is 12 months. The qualifying period for people on disability benefit is three years. The back to work allowance scheme is part of my Department's programme of initiatives designed to assist long-term unemployed people, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force.

There are two strands to the scheme, the back to work enterprise allowance for self-employment and the back to work allowance for employees. The allowance was introduced in September 1993 when long-term unemployment stood at 8.9%. In its early years the scheme proved very effective in helping people who had been long-term unemployed to return to the labour force. At present, there are 8,559 participants in the scheme, compared to 39,343 in October 2000 when the scheme reached its peak.

In recognition of the difficulties being experienced by some people returning to the labour force after three or five years of attachment to the live register, the qualifying period for access to both the employment and self employment strands of back to work was reduced to two years with effect from March 2006. In July 2001, the scheme was extended on a pilot basis — 200 places — to those in receipt of disability benefit for at least five years. This was reduced to three years in April 2002. Disability benefit is regarded as a short-term payment where the person is coming from employment. The other qualifying payments such as disability allowance are considered to be longer-term payments. For this reason the qualifying period for participation on the scheme from disability benefit is greater than other categories of social welfare recipients.

The scheme is continually monitored to ensure its relevance to current labour market conditions and to ensure that it continues to assist those furthest from the labour market to gain a foothold into sustainable employment or self-employment.