Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to outline the benefits of JobPath; the way in which JobPath operates; if he will provide a breakdown by county of successful participation leading to full-time employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8860/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s Public Employment Service (PES) is managed by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and delivered directly by its own Intreo service as well as by contracted private companies, such as JobPath, Local Employment Service (LES) and Job Club providers. It is the role of the staff of these services to provide Jobseekers with a range of practical supports and assistance to help them enter/re-enter employment. The range of supports provided relate to the jobseekers preparation for, search for, the securing of and the sustaining of employment in the open labour market.

With JobPath the department has procured additional resources to enable it to provide a high quality case managed employment support service to people who are long term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed. The JobPath service was designed to augment and complement the Department’s existing employment service capacity, including that provided by LES and Job Club contractors. The additional capacity provided through the JobPath service has allowed the department to provide the type and intensity of services required by Jobseekers, particularly those most distant from the labour market.

Prior to the introduction of Intreo and JobPath the Department had a case officer to live register ratio of approximately 1,500:1 compared to international benchmarks of less than 200:1. Today with the reduction in the unemployment rate and the increase in capacity, both internally through Intreo and externally through JobPath, the ratio is circa 230:1. Nevertheless with a ratio of 230:1 as compared with international norms of less than 200:1 JobPath continues to play a key role in the delivery of the services required by Jobseekers.

The JobPath service was rolled out on a phased basis over the period mid-2015 to July 2016, as a result the first groups of participants have only recently completed their engagement period with the service. It is important to note, that through the service jobseekers have access to a personal adviser (PA) who works with them over two phases. During the first phase, of 12 months duration, the PA provides practical assistance in searching, preparing for, securing and sustaining employment. The second phase starts if the jobseeker is successful in finding work. During this phase the PA continues to work with the jobseeker for a further period of at least three months, and up to 12 months. It will take time therefore to accumulate a sufficient number of clients (who have completed their engagement period) for complete and robust outcome data to be available. However for 2017, the Department will publish a report on the performance of the service on a quarterly basis, with the first such report having just been published recently (17th of January).

The initial data on the impact of the service is encouraging.

- Employment outcome data shows that compared to people who did not take part in the service, people who availed of the service were 23% more likely to have started a job (as of October 2016). The difference appears to be more marked for very long-term unemployed people, with those out of work for more than three years some 44% more likely to have found a job if they engaged with the service.

- The results from the first independently conducted customer satisfaction survey indicates that jobseekers feel that they are receiving a good service under JobPath (76 – 81% satisfaction vs 5 – 8% dissatisfaction), that the staff of the service make them feel valued (90%+) and they have a good relationship with their personal adviser (90%+). They also feel that the service has improved their chances of getting a job (68% - 77%).

Given that only a small number of people have completed their full engagement period with the service these results can only be treated as indicative, nevertheless they are encouraging.

As the number of people who have completed their engagement period with the service increases the department will be in a position to provide greater granularity in the reports to be published each quarter this year.

The first report (with results together with a copy of the independent customer satisfaction survey findings for both companies) is available on the department’s website at – www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/JobPath-performance-report-January-2017.pdf.