Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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328. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his views on the situation where the supervisors of individual community enterprise schemes are informed of the eligibility of scheme participants only six weeks before the end of one scheme and the beginning of another, thus reducing the supervisors' time to plan their projects properly; if the supervisors will be given a minimum of three months' notice of eligibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23579/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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All Community Employment (CE) participant contracts are for 52 weeks duration. The contracts of employment (including start and finish dates) are issued by the sponsoring organisation (the legal employer) to the participant. Based on their eligibility details, each participant is recruited under a specific option of CE, which been in place since the programme commenced in 1994. The Part-Time Integration (PTI) Option is for one year’s participation on CE at a time while the Part-Time Job (PTJ) Option is for a maximum engagement of up to 3 consecutive years, subject to annually renewable contracts.

As per the CE Procedures Manual, sponsoring organisations that wish to retain a PTI (1-year) participant for a further year, must apply to the Department 8 weeks in advance of that participant’s current finish date. A maximum of 10% of PTI participants can be extended into a consecutive year (after which they must leave CE and re-qualify the normal way). The remaining PTI participants will exit after one year’s participation and be replaced as they complete their time on CE. Participant finish dates vary as CE is based on continuous intake.

Under the PTJ Option (3-years), sponsoring organisations that wish to retain participants for a further year, must apply to the Department 8 weeks in advance of the participants’ current finish date as well. Rollover onto the next year’s contract is subject to participants engaging with the CE programme, including training and work experience activities.

Adherence to the CE procedures by the Sponsors and Supervisors helps to maximise the effectiveness of the system for retaining and/or replacing participants in a timely manner.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.