Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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164. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if persons who do not qualify for jobseeker's allowance by virtue of the means test are eligible to participate in a community employment scheme; her plans to change the rules in this regard; if she will provide a list of the training and activation measures that are available to such persons presently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48161/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Persons who do not qualify for jobseeker's allowance by virtue of the means test are ineligible to participate on a Community Employment (CE) scheme. In general, only those in receipt of a CE-qualifying payment for the requisite period of time are eligible to participate on the CE programme.

Given the scale of unemployment, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives has been to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. Accordingly, the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused, in the first instance, on the cohort of people who are unemployed and in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment. There are no plans to make changes to these arrangements at present.

Despite this focus, access to training and employment programmes is also open to other groups under certain circumstances. Thus, persons who have been signing for credits for three months (78 days) of the last six months are eligible to participate in the JobBridge programme. Persons signing on for credits for 12 months or longer are also entitled to participate on Momentum provided that they have been actively seeking work. Persons signing for credits for six months or more are entitled to participate on VTOS courses subject to availability. In the case of VTOS courses, participants do not receive a training allowance but may receive travel and lunch allowances.

More generally, a range of services are available to persons who are unemployed but 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.

Furthermore, unemployed persons not in receipt of payments may also be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through ETB (formerly FÁS) training for unemployed people. While they are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course, they may receive travel and lunch allowances.

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.