Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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102. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to establish a community advisory forum for community employment schemes; and her further plans to increase the payments that support these schemes and the participants. [46880/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Community Employment (CE) helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. The focus of CE is on developing technical and personal skills to enable a person to return to the open labour market. Persons engaged are provided with work and training placements of 19½ hours duration per week with a not-for-profit community sponsor delivering local services.

The CE programme is monitored on an on-going basis to ensure that the schemes are meeting the needs of communities and jobseekers. The Deputy will appreciate that given the welcome improvements in the labour market in recent years with reducing numbers of long-term unemployed on the Live Register, which is the target cohort for CE, it is proving difficult to fill the number of places available nationwide.

My Department undertook nationwide consultation workshops with key CE scheme sponsors and supervisors during May and early June 2017. As part of these consultations, potential changes to the eligibility criteria were discussed and a number of changes were implemented thereafter.

The general qualifying age for CE for those on the Live Register was reduced from 25 to 21 years. It is now easier for previous participants, who have exhausted their CE entitlement, to re-qualify as participation prior to the year 2007 is disregarded. There is an overall limit of 6 years participation from 2007 (7 years if on a disability payment). While participants between 21 and 55 years on CE are entitled to one year on the programme, this can be extended by up to 2 more years if they are engaged in a recognised training or education award that is helping them progress towards employment. All CE participants age 55 and over can avail of 3 consecutive years on a CE scheme. Since 1st June, I am also facilitating persons to take up a placement on CE or Tús while also attending their JobPath provider.

The annual budget provided to CE schemes includes an amount to cover consumable services and materials, including insurance, necessary for the effective operation of the project. As part of Budget 2019, I increased the materials budget by €2m.

The payment rates for participants on community employment (CE) are related to their underlying value of their social protection payment plus €22.50 per week, with a minimum payment to each participant of €220.50. In Budget 2019, I increased this minimum rate payment by a further €5 increase in line with other payments in my Department. In addition, a participant may be eligible, where appropriate, for payments in respect of any qualified dependant adult and children.

I would like to reiterate that the Government strongly supports the work being done through these schemes and I have seen first-hand myself, over recent months, the vital role such schemes are playing in local communities, including supporting social services, across the entire country.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.