Written answers

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Department of Social Protection

Employment Support Services

Photo of Nicky McFaddenNicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current options available to formerly self-employed persons in relation to accessing the State's re-training and job activation measures; if a more inclusive system could be introduced to ensure that persons are not excluded from job activation programmes when they do not qualify for jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's credits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8759/14]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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People who were previously self-employed and are now in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance have access to the full range of activation measures available to other job-seeker’s allowance recipients.

Many services are available to the formerly self-employed who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. For example employment services, such as advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools, are available to people if they register with the Department’s employment services offices, regardless of their social welfare status.

Further, unemployed persons not in receipt of payments, including the previously self-employed, may also be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through ETB (formerly FÁS) training for unemployed people, but are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course. Springboard and Skillnets courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are also open to people who were previously self-employed, regardless of their social welfare status.

The Work Placement Programme is also open to persons not in receipt of a social welfare payment, although the participant will not receive a payment while on the programme.

Given the scale of unemployment levels, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused in the first instance on this cohort of unemployed people.

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