Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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633. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons who have had sanctions imposed on their social protection payments in the past five years to date in 2017; the number of persons disqualified from receiving payments for the same period of time, by payment and by year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49883/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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This PQ is being answered in the context of Jobseekers Activation.

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. Jobseekers may be disallowed entitlement to a Jobseeker’s payment if they are not available for or genuinely seeking work.

In addition, the activation process requires jobseekers to attend group or individual meetings, and/or avail of suitable education, training or development opportunities, or specified employment programmes, which are considered appropriate to the individual person’s circumstances. Sanctions/penalties may be imposed in the form of reduced payments where jobseekers fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures. Jobseekers who refuse to engage with services, refuse an appropriate offer of training or education, or do not attend meetings, can have their payment reduced by up to €44 a week (introduced in April 2011).

Strengthened sanctions were introduced in July 2013 to provide for a disqualification from payment for a period of up to 9 weeks, in circumstances where a jobseeker who has had a penalty rate imposed for 21 days, continues to fail to engage. The normal rate of payment may be reinstated at any time, if the jobseeker complies, as requested, with the activation measures.

The total numbers of penalty rates applied (includes reduced rate and 9 week disqualifications), from 2012 to Oct 2017 are indicated in the following table. A breakdown by scheme (JA/JB) or by penalty rate is not available.