John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 163: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there is a timescale for the implementation of the new national employment service and the provision of a higher level of personalised employment counselling targeting those at risk of long-term unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19423/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Department is establishing a new National Employment and Entitlements Service, as provided for in the Programme for Government, which will integrate employment and benefit payment services within the Department. The new integrated service will be based on a case management approach with the objective of providing a more customised and personal service to customers.

In line with international good practice, this new service will focus primarily on activation. The objective is to encourage and enable customers to embark on developmental pathways appropriate to their needs; pathways to employment and/or training and/or personal development. A key feature of the new service will be that customers will be expected to engage with these options in order to retain their entitlement to full benefit payments.

With regard to the timeline for the development of the National Employment and Entitlements Service the assignment and integration of functions and the full transformation to a case management approach focussed on activation, will be a multi-annual programme of work. However, significant progress has already been made and many aspects of the new service will be delivered within the coming twelve months.

As part of the process of developing and implementing the new business model for the National Employment and entitlements Service, the Department has commenced a major and comprehensive programme of change management entailing the integration of services previously, or currently, provided by other agencies – including both the Employment Services and Community Employment Programmes of FÁS and the Community Welfare Services (CWS) of the HSE.

The administration of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme has already been transferred to the Department of Social Protection with the secondment of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive at the beginning of this year. The intention is to have the staff fully transferred into the Department by the end of September this year. This will enable the Department to integrate the payment of all benefits into one organisation simplifying customer processes.

Planning for the transfer and integration of the Employment Services and Community Employment Services of FÁS to the Department has already commenced and it is envisaged that the transfer of staff will commence later this year. Again this will enable us to simplify and integrate the delivery of employment support services to customers.

Even in advance of integration, FÁS and the Department are already working on a number of pilot projects in relation to the development of case management, the identification of those who are most at risk of falling into long-term unemployment, and the provision of appropriately tailored responses to their needs. These pilot projects will be completed and evaluated in the coming months after which approaches will be developed for their rollout nationwide as part of the National Employment and Entitlements Service. A key objective of the Government in relation to the new service is that it will offer users a high level of personalised employment support and 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.

As part of such an approach, FÁS and the Department have collaborated on the development the National Internship Scheme. This scheme which will provide 5,000 internships of up to nine months duration was successfully launched on 1st July 2011. Participants will retain their social welfare entitlements and will also receive a 'top-up' of €50 per week. The scheme, which is the first public manifestation of the National Employment and Entitlements Service, is already receiving strong support from the business community and potential participants.