Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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390. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons, by county, that have had their payments reduced or ceased as a result of failure to comply with the requirements of the JobPath scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34816/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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All jobseekers are required to engage with the Department’s activation service and this obligation applies irrespective of whether the service is provided by the Department’s own case officers or those employed by the Local Employment Service or by JobPath.

In order to qualify for a jobseeker payment, a person must meet certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for, capable of and genuinely seeking full-time work. A range of sanctions, including disqualification, closure or disallowance of the jobseeker claim, may be imposed where a client fails to meet the stated conditions. A jobseeker claim may be reviewed at any time in order to establish continued entitlement.

Additionally, in relation to activation, legislation provides that further sanctions/penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by a Deciding Officer where clients fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures. Activation measures include the requirement to attend group or individual meetings with case officers and/or avail of suitable education, training or development opportunities, or specified employment programmes, which are considered appropriate to a person’s circumstances.

Where a person continues to fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures, while on a penalty rate, he/she may be disqualified from receiving the personal rate of payment. The normal rate of payment may be reinstated at any time, if the jobseeker complies, as requested, with activation measures.

All decisions regarding the application of penalty rates are taken by officials of the Department. Some 1,500 people who were referred to the JobPath service since its inception have had a penalty rate applied to them. Of these there are at present c500 people on a reduced penalty rate of payment. A breakdown by county is not currently available but will be provided to the Deputy as soon as possible.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.