Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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545. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons who have been referred to JobPath each year since it was established; the number referred for a second, third, fourth, fifth time and, if applicable, more than five times, in tabular form. [37987/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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547. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons who have had employment sourced for them through JobPath; and the number whose employment was sustained for 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks, respectively. [37989/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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549. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of times JobPath providers have reported jobseekers to her Department for non-engagement with the scheme since it was established. [37992/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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550. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of penalties that have been applied to jobseekers' rates for non-engagement with JobPath since it was established. [37993/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 545, 547, 549 and 550 together.

Internationally, and in Ireland, research consistently indicates that the provision of a personal advisory/case management service to unemployed jobseekers is an effective method of supporting jobseekers to secure and sustain employment.

In Ireland, this personal advisor/case management service is provided directly by the Department's own staff and also by staff employed in contracted service providers - including the Local Employment Service (LES) and JobPath providers.

In general, the Department's own case officers engage with people who are short term unemployed while those who are more distant from the labour market, including long term unemployed people, are served by the LES and JobPath.

My Department selects clients for the JobPath service from among the cohort of long-term unemployed people by means of a stratified random selection process. Protocols for selection preclude the selection of anyone who has already completed 52 weeks with the JobPath service within the previous four months. If, however, at the end of this period the jobseeker has not engaged in other activation supports and services they then become eligible for selection for further referral to a JobPath case officer/personal advisor.

Jobseekers referred for a subsequent period of engagement will start working with a Personal Advisor, who will review their development during their previous engagements with the service and together they will prepare a new personal progression plan to build on that progress. The actions and tasks agreed will be based on their previous engagements, with particular focus on addressing any barriers that may be identified as blocking the person from moving into full-time suitable employment.

I have recently instructed my officials to ensure that no new clients should serve more than two complete engagements with JobPath and practical arrangements are currently being put in place to ensure that this is the case.

The Department uses the measure of completion of engagements with JobPath as a more accurate metric as opposed to referrals, as customers can be referred on a number of occasions without actually engaging with the service. The reasons for this can typically be a change of circumstance between referral and engagement (e.g. a person may find employment before they start their engagement period with JobPath or they may transfer to another welfare scheme). To date 133,574 clients have completed one full engagement with JobPath, 33,256 clients have completed two full engagements with the JobPath service and 1,325 people have completed a third engagement period. This information has been summarised in Table 2.

JobPath provides a case management based employment advice and counselling service to long term unemployed jobseekers which aids jobseekers in finding employment. As part of this process, JobPath in common with other contracted providers such as the LES and indeed the Department's own Intreo staff, may identify suitable job opportunities and refer jobseekers to these job opportunities. Equally, the jobseeker may, during the period of engagement, identify their own opportunities. This would also be case in respect of engagements with the LES or the Department's own staff.

Between July 2015 and October 2020, some 283,826 jobseekers had commenced their engagement period with the JobPath service. These engagements are set out in Table 1.

In the same period, 64,632 jobseekers had commenced employment during their engagement period with JobPath. Of these, 40,876 have sustained employment for 13 weeks, 32,811 have sustained employment for 26 weeks, 26,992 have sustained employment for 39 weeks and 22,581 continued to be employed after twelve months.

It should be noted that many clients who are currently engaged with JobPath are still in the first phase of the service. They have not yet had sufficient time with the service to have gained employment nor sustain that employment for up to 52 weeks. The measure of performance will improve as more clients complete their engagement with the service and have a chance to reach 52 weeks in employment.In addition, employment progression rates need to be compared with the 'counterfactual' of what would have happened if a person did not avail of the of the JobPath service. For this reason, I would refer the Deputy to the econcometric evaluation of the service published on the Department's website at . This indicates that employment/earnings outcomes for people who engaged with JobPath are 37% improved compared to control groups who did not engage with the service. The Department will continue to monitor this performance and will, in addition, commission studies of other employment advisory services, including the LES, over the next 12 months.

JobPath providers do not apply, nor do they recommend the application of, a penalty rate of payment. Their role is to simply advise the Department if a jobseeker has failed to attend activation meetings. The application of penalty rates is entirely a matter for Departmental staff.

The legislation underpinning the application of reduced rates of payment was provided for in the Social Welfare Act 2010.All decisions on the application of reduced rates of payment are made by officials from my Department and the circumstances of each case are taken into account prior to a decision being made.

Due to the on going economic impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic penalty rates have not been applied to payments since March 2020. Of those who were engaged with JobPath in February, 430 people or 0.7% had a reduced rate applied to their claim. This figure is consistent with the overall level of reduced rates applied across all Jobseekers. It should be pointed out that several factors may be considered in applying penalty rates and it is not possible to state in which instances the sole context may have been non-engagement with JobPath.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Table 1:

JobPath Engagements (PPP agreed) by year (as of end October 2020)

Table 2:

JobPath clients with Multiple completed engagements (as of end October 2020)

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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546. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount paid to JobPath providers since it was established; and the amount of referral and sustainment fees. [37988/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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548. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there is engagement with JobPath providers on the number of persons who source employment but do not sustain it beyond 13 or 26 weeks. [37991/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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551. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the oversight her Department has had of JobPath providers; and the number of notified and unannounced inspections that have been carried out. [37994/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 546, 548 and 551 together.

JobPath 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.

The total paid to the JobPath providers and up to October 2020 is €247.9m

This total breaks down as follows: -

Referral Fees: €99.9m

Job Sustainment Fees: €148m

The focus of the JobPath Service is to provide intensive support to people, who are experiencing long-term unemployment or who are at risk of becoming long-term unemployed, to secure and sustain full-time employment. This is achieved by working with the client to identify and provide intensive support to overcome barriers to employment.

The period of engagement with the service is 52 weeks, and during that time, the jobseeker avails of intensive support from a dedicated Personal Advisor (PA). If the jobseeker is successful in finding employment, the support of the PA continues for the remaining duration of the person’s engagement with the service and for a period of at least six and up to twelve months thereafter.

If the jobseeker obtains employment but it is not sustained beyond 13 or 26 weeks, the engagement with the PA will resume. The employment experience will be reviewed to build on progress, and to identify measures to sustain employment. This may entail referral to training, education or other interventions appropriate to sustaining employment.

The overall performance of the contractors in assisting persons in gaining and sustaining employment is under continual review including the numbers who sustain employment for 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks. My Department meets regularly with the contractors to review all aspects of the contract delivery including performance.

Inspections are one of a number of key performance monitoring features, which enable my Department to oversee all aspects of the JobPath providers’ performance and ensure contract compliance.

As at end of October 2020, a total of 117 inspections have been carried out at JobPath service delivery locations; 72 have been notified and 45 were un-notified.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.