John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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210. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount paid to Jobpath providers in 2017. [3824/18]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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211. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons referred to Jobpath since its commencement; the number that gained full-time and part-time employment as a direct result of Jobpath; and the sectors in which employment was gained. [3825/18]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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212. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons that have been released from Jobpath having not gained employment since its commencement. [3826/18]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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215. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons engaged in Jobpath since its commencement that have had their jobseeker's payment either reduced or suspended. [3829/18]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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216. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of Turas Nua and Seetec offices here; the year each office began providing the Jobpath service; and the corresponding number of times each office has been inspected since jobpath commenced. [3830/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 210 to 212, inclusive,, 215 and 216 together.

JobPath is a payment by results model and all set-up and day-to-day operational costs are borne by the companies. The companies are paid on the basis of performance and with the exception of the initial registration fee; payments are made only when a client has achieved sustained employment. The overall cost of JobPath will be determined by the number of people who participate in the programme and the number who get sustainable jobs.

It is not intended to publish the individual payments to the JobPath companies as these are commercially sensitive and to do so would place the State at a disadvantage both in terms of the contracts currently in place and in any future procurement that may be undertaken.

The total of fees claimed by the JobPath providers in 2017 was €58.5m.

JobPath has been designed to support persons who are long term unemployed and at the end of December 2017 some 141,000 jobseekers have commenced engagement with the service. Of these 52% were unemployed for more than three years and a further 12% have been unemployed for more than two years.

In relation to the number of participants to find employment and the number to complete their engagement period with the service without finding employment, it is important to note that jobseekers may be supported through the service for up to 30 months. During this time they have access to a Personal Advisor (PA) who works with them over two phases. In 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 and the PA continues to work with the jobseeker for a further period of at least three months, and up to 12 months. In addition to these two phases jobseekers may also undertake training while on JobPath and this may extend the period for up to a further 6 months.

It will therefore take time to accumulate a sufficient number of clients (who have completed their engagement period with the service) for complete and robust outcome data to be available.

The Department has published initial cohort reports on the performance of the service, the most recent of which was published on the 5th of January 2018 and is available on the department's website welfare.ie. at .

This initial report, which is based on the first four cohorts of jobseekers to be referred only, indicates that of these Jobseekers, to date 18% have entered full time employment, 4% entered part time employment and 3% became self-employed, giving a total employment outcome figure of 25%. In addition, the report noted that participants have a higher chance of securing and remaining in employment compared to non-participants with a similar duration of unemployment.

An initial analysis of the sectors in which participants found employment suggests that some of the most popular types of employment are within the construction, manufacturing, sales, clerical/administrative, food service, cleaning and customer service sectors.

Given the above, the department is undertaking an econometric review of this strand of its activation services, completion of the review is provisionally scheduled for the end of Q3, following which more detailed and robust statistics will be available.

At the end of December 2017, circa 93,000 clients were engaged with JobPath, of which 483 or 0.5% have a penalty rate applied to their claim. This figure is consistent with the overall level of penalty rates applied across all Job Seekers. In total since the JobPath service commenced, approximately 6,500 or 4.6% of the 141,000 clients who had engaged with the JobPath service (between July 2015 and December 2017) have had, at some point during their engagement period, a penalty rate applied to their payment.

It is important to note that JobPath providers do not apply or recommend the application of a penalty rate. They simply advise the Department if a jobseeker is failing to attend activation meetings. Officials in the Department then contact the Jobseeker and seek to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter directly with them. The application of penalty rates is entirely a matter for the Department and officials involved will take all relevant factors into account.

In the interests of natural justice, a jobseeker who fails to participate in the activation process, whether that is provided directly by the Intreo service or via any contracted service provider, is given both written and verbal warnings and an opportunity to comply before a reduced rate of payment is applied. Furthermore, Jobseekers can, through co-operation with the activation service of my Department, benefit from early re-instatement of the full rate of Jobseeker’s payment. Jobseekers can also appeal the decision to apply a penalty rate through the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO).

The JobPath Agreements were signed with Turas Nua and Seetec on 5 June 2015. The service is being delivered in two contract areas which were based on the Department’s divisional structure. The contract areas are as follows:

- Seetec - West; Midlands North; North East; North West, Dublin Central; Dublin North; Dublin South.

- Turas Nua - Cork Central; South East; Mid-Leinster, Mid-West; South West; Midlands South.

The roll-out of the service commenced on 20 July 2015 on a “soft-launch” basis and completed in mid- 2016. All of the Department’s Offices are referring clients to the service.

The total number of service delivery locations is eighty-nine (89),comprising the following:

Service delivery locations/Number of Inspections:

TURAS NUA- Full-time Offices

TURAS NUA- Part-time Offices

Seetec- Full-time Offices

Seetec- Outreach Offices

A total of 51 Inspections have been carried out to-date. Inspections may be notified or un-notified.

I hope this clarifies the matters for the Deputy.