Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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143. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of vacancies in community employment schemes; her plans to fill these vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39112/20]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Community Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for employment opportunities that will become available. The CE scheme can play an important role in breaking the cycle of long-term unemployment for some people and improve their chances of employment.

The 2020 CE Budget is €364 million. At the end of February 2020, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, there were 21,131 participants on CE. At the end of October 2020 there were 19,244 participants on CE.

During the first phase of the Covid-19 emergency earlier in the year, my Department continued to provide the necessary funding for CE schemes while also introducing a number of contingency measures. These measures included the extension of all existing CE participant contracts for the duration of the emergency enabling many CE schemes and their CE participants to continue to deliver their range of services to the community.

Following the Government's introduction of Level-5 restrictions in October, the Department reintroduced these contingency arrangements and continued to provide funding for CE schemes. Department officials have been liaising with CE schemes to arrange for those participants who were due to finish during the period Level-5 restrictions are in place, to have their contracts extended until restrictions ease, unless a participant is taking up employment or reaches the State Pension age.

While referrals to CE schemes can continue in current circumstances, the number of referrals from Intreo Offices may be impacted by the need to deploy Intreo staff to other frontline duties and in order to comply with public health restrictions. During this period, CE sponsoring authorities are also being encouraged to continue to promote awareness of the benefits of CE in their local communities, ensuring that CE vacancies are well publicised. They can advertise CE their existing CE vacancies free of charge on the Department's JobsIreland website.

Once restrictions begin to be lifted there will be a renewed focus on identifying long-term unemployed candidates for available CE vacancies and to fill the additional places provided for under the July Jobs Stimulus.

I am fully committed to the future of this programme and will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants and the valuable contribution being made to local communities.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the recent changes in community employment rules (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39113/20]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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145. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will address a matter (details supplied) regarding community employment schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39126/20]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together.

The Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis.

A number of new conditions were introduced to the CE Scheme in July 2017 to further support progression to employment, broaden CE access to a wider range of people and to standardise the conditions relating to the length of time a CE participant can remain on a CE scheme.

Prior to 2017, there were two available options for participating on CE. Both options commenced with one year of participation with the possibility of either one or two more years, depending on the option taken. Both options were subject to qualification criteria and neither required the CE participant to undertake any training resulting in the achievement of a major QQI award.

In 2017 the new conditions and qualifying criteria were introduced and a saver clause was provided for the existing clients:

‘Participants who commenced on CE prior to 3rd July 2017 will be entitled to remain under their existing CE eligibility rules, where this is to their advantage. If it is more advantageous to the person, the current criteria can be applied.’

The saver clause that was introduced allowed CE participants who commenced under that option to continue on CE for a maximum of three consecutive years with or without working towards a QQI major award, whichever was more advantageous. The 2017 saver clause does not allow those affected to continue to participate on CE for six years consecutively.

The same continuous limitation of three years continues to apply to all CE participants both pre and post 2017. CE participation was never intended to be long-term and the maximum continued participation on CE is three years.

In general CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years are for one year. CE participants who are working towards a Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) major award can seek to extend their participation on CE by up to two years to enable them to reach the required standard of qualification. CE participants aged 55 years or older can remain on CE for three years and do not have to work towards a QQI major award. In either scenario, a maximum of three consecutive year's participation on CE is permissible. A person may re-qualify for CE after a twelve month break once they satisfy the qualifying conditions. An overall lifetime limit of six years applies to all CE participants (seven years for those on a disability payment). The same rules and eligibility criteria attached to participation on CE are applied throughout the country.

The priority for my Department is to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants. Places on these work programmes will continue to be made available to support those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market, while maintaining the role of CE as an active labour market programme.

While I understand that CE participants may wish to remain on a CE scheme for longer than the permissible time, the Deputy will appreciate that such extensions would have a detrimental effect on other long-term unemployed candidates wishing to avail of the opportunities afforded by CE.

I am fully committed to the future of CE and will continue to support and improve CE for the benefit of the CE participants and the valuable contribution being made to local communities.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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146. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a community employment scheme placement will be continued for a person (details provided) in County Kerry who is providing an essential service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39140/20]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Employment Programmes such as Community Employment (CE) are labour market programmes that enable long-term unemployed to progress into employment and/or further education and training. Participation limits on these schemes are necessary to allow for the maximum utilisation of places amongst qualifying persons. It is important to note that participation is intended to be for a temporary fixed term and the positions offered are not full-time sustainable jobs. Instead, the placements are designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness, thereby improving a person’s opportunities of returning to the open labour market.

Following 12 months in receipt of a qualifying Social Welfare payment CE placements for those aged between 21 and 55 years will be for one year. However, if a CE participant is working towards a QQI Major Award or working towards a recognised industry standard, their time on CE can be extended by up to a maximum of 3 years to complete the full award/qualification standard i.e. a total participation of 3 consecutive years in which to complete any outstanding modules.

The person concerned will have completed three years on CE on 11th December and their employment should cease on that date. However having reviewed the position my Department will continue to fund this participant placement up to 15 January 2021 to ensure no disruption of payment over the Christmas period.

The Department's Activation service will work with the person concerned to ensure that the skills and experience they received during their time on CE are maximised. This process will help identify potential employment opportunities and offer support to them in overcoming any barriers to employment.

The Department strongly supports the work being done through Community Employment schemes and the vital roles they are playing in local communities. Community Employment vacancies are advertised on and are promoted and supported locally by the Department's Activation service.