Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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501. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to change the rules relating to community employment schemes, given that there are barriers to recruitment; to change the year 2000 rule for a programme to a new starting point of 2015; to give referrals into schemes such as community employment and training and education programmes the same weight as full-time jobs in local employment service contract with his Department, that is, a return to pre-2016, 50% overall progression rates; to reduce the minimum qualifying age to 21 years in its entirety; to change the eligibility from 12 months to three months unemployed; to allow spousal swap; to provide additional financial reward for lone parents; to net the minimum time on community employment schemes at two years in real terms; and to allow persons over 62 years of age to stay on schemes. [9844/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Community Employment (CE) is a labour market activation programme which helps long-term unemployed people (those 12-months or more in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment) and other disadvantaged groups to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. It is designed to be a temporary fixed-term activation intervention. The programme assists participants to enhance and develop skills which can then be used in the workplace.

A number of persons who sign on to the Live Register generally exit it again within a short-time frame, without any recourse to employment schemes or intensive activation measures. Accordingly, it is considered appropriate that Community Employment schemes remain focused on those who are long-term unemployed. As eligibility rests with the main claimant only, the adult dependant of a social welfare claimant is not eligible for CE in their own right. There are other interventions and activation options for those who are not eligible for CE, for example, advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools. It is also open to adult dependents of a social welfare claimant to make an application for a jobseekers payment in their own right.

In general participants can avail of 12 months participation on CE. Lifetime cumulative participation on CE by an individual is limited to 3 years (156 weeks) for persons under 55 years of age and 6 years (312 weeks) for persons of 55 years of age up to and including 65 years of age. Eligible persons in receipt of a qualifying disability-linked social welfare payment are eligible for one additional year on CE over the standard maximum participation caps. Participation on a CE scheme prior to 3rd April 2000 is not counted when calculating the length of time a person can participate.

A pilot initiative was introduced in December 2015 to enable those aged 62 and over to extend their participation beyond the standard maximum participation limits providing the eligibility conditions are met. Participants aged 62 and over are allowed to participate on a continuous basis up to the state pension age, subject to satisfactory performance on the scheme and to annual approval by the Department. The places allocated for participants over 62 on this pilot within each individual CE scheme are limited to 7% of each schemes overall budgeted places.

The standard minimum entry age for CE is 25 years of age. It is worth noting that the entry age for dedicated childcare and health and social care positions that involve working directly with service users was lowered to 21 years of age.

There are no plans to change the above rules as this would result in a reduction in throughput from the scheme, thereby reducing the overall number of CE beneficiaries per year.

With respect to participation by lone parents on CE as childcare is a crucial element for parents embarking on CE or returning to the workforce, the Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme ensures that CE participants get the childcare supports they need to support their participation on the scheme.

In the context of the Local Employment Service (LES) it is intended that the LES provides an intensive engagement with customers and there is a target that 30% of LES customers are placed into full -time employment. CE schemes are intended to help long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce, they are not full-time sustainable jobs and therefore cannot be included in this target.

If a particular CE scheme is encountering difficulties in recruiting participants, additional assistance can be provided by the local departmental staff to resolve any local barriers or issues.

The eligibility criteria for CE places is kept under on-going review to ensure they are effective in targeting long-term unemployed jobseekers and other specific disadvantaged groups. The Department is committed to continuing to enhance the effectiveness of the CE Programme and conscious of the valuable contribution it is making in the provision of services to individuals and communities across Ireland.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.