Written answers

Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Community Employment Schemes

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

171. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on extending the employment of all persons in the community employment programme until at least 31 December 2021 given the difficulty in replacing persons during the Covid-19 pandemic; if she will address the concerns raised by a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32439/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Community Employment (CE) 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.

At the onset of the Covid-19 emergency last year my Department introduced a number of contingency measures to support CE schemes including the extension of participant contracts. These measures have continued and, in particular, during the Level 5 periods of restriction in place over the course of the last fifteen months.

Accordingly, CE participants due to finish on schemes since October 2020, have had their contracts extended on a number of occasions.

On the 11th of June Minister of State, Joe O’Brien and myself announced further measures to support participants of both Community Employment (CE) and Tús schemes. Under these measures, CE and Tús participants’ contracts will be further extended until the end of October 2021. This will benefit 7,000 participants who have been granted contract extensions since last October and whose contracts were due to end next month. These measures will also benefit over 4,000 additional existing CE and Tús participants whose contracts would ordinarily come to an end between July and October.

These measures will ensure that schemes can fully re-commence service delivery in local communities, while also supporting participants who have been long-term unemployed. This latest extension will also allow participants further opportunities to complete their training and work placement experience.

Importantly, this final extension will also allow CE and Tús schemes to conclude participants’ placements on a co-ordinated and phased basis. This will also facilitate the planned increase in the rate of referrals to fill existing and new vacancies to ensure that opportunities to participate on the schemes continue to be available to those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market.

From the end of October there will be a phased exit of those CE and Tús participants who have benefitted from this latest extension over a number of months up until February 2022.

To assist with this transitional arrangement, there will also be a short contract extension for those CE and Tús participants whose contracts would be normally due to end between November 2021 and February 2022.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy at this time.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.