James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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584. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans for Tús and community employment schemes in view of the fact that many community groups are finding it difficult to recruit employees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2948/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include work programmes such as Community Employment (CE) and Tús.

Schemes such as CE and Tús provide part-time temporary work in local communities, as a stepping-stone back to employment. However, it is important to note that these placements are not full-time sustainable jobs. Instead, they are designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness, thereby improving a person’s opportunities of returning to the labour market or getting a job for the first time.

The Deputy will appreciate that the welcome reduction in the unemployment rate is a factor in recruitment to all programmes. Long-term unemployment is expected to fall further this year in line with the continuing forecasted fall in overall unemployment.

In the context of the economic recovery, my Department undertook a review of the work programmes in 2016. While the primary focus was on CE, the review also looked at other employment programmes such as Tús.

Arising from the review, the Government agreed to implement changes to the qualifying conditions for CE in order to broaden access to a wider range of people. These new rules were implemented from July 2017. As part of the changes introduced, the qualifying age was reduced to 21 years. In addition while, in general, all placements will now be for one year only, if a CE participant is undertaking training to achieve a major award, their time can be extended by up to 2 years to allow them to complete the training which will enhance their overall employment prospects. This allows for 3 years continuous participation on CE. Those over 55 years of age can also remain on CE for three years. In addition, the reference year for CE participation was moved from 2000 to 2007 which ensures that more people can re-qualify for the programme. Overall, these changes improve the way that CE operates and should allow access to more people who are long-term unemployed.

Currently, participants can remain on Tús for one year and I have no plans to change this. However, changes will be implemented in the coming weeks to the selection criteria for Tús which should broaden the numbers available for this scheme. This includes an increase in the percentage of assisted referrals from 20% to 30%, as well as permitting someone who has had a break of up to 30 days on the Live Register in the past 12 months to be considered eligible for Tús selection.

I will continue to keep this whole area under review so that these schemes provide real and valuable support to both individuals and communities. The Government is very mindful of the large number of work programme places involved in service delivery and other valuable services around the country. In this regard, if any scheme is experiencing particular recruitment difficulties, they should contact their local Intreo Centre for assistance.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.