Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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320. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review the 3 July 2017 ruling on community employment schemes that directly affects participants who are over 55 years of age who will see their time allowed on schemes reduced from six to three years based on a number of grounds (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34059/21]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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My Department provides a range of employment and training programmes and is committed to delivering and supporting a range of assistive and targeted measures to increase employment, training and apprenticeship opportunities for the long-term unemployed.

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.

As the Deputy is aware, a number of changes were introduced to the eligibility criteria for CE in 2017 to broaden access to the CE programme to a greater number of people on the Live Register and to standardise the conditions around the length of time a person can remain on CE.

In general, the qualifying age for CE for was reduced from 25 to 21 years. Participation on CE prior to the year 2007 has been disregarded as part of these changes, which makes it easier for previous CE participants who had exhausted their CE entitlement to re-qualify.

Included in these changes was the duration participants can remain on CE. In general, CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years are for 1 year. CE participants who are working towards a Quality and Qualifications Ireland or QQI major award can seek to extend their participation on CE by up to 2 years to enable them to reach the required standard of qualification.  CE participants aged 55 years or older can remain on CE for a maximum of 3 consecutive years.  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 Youth Employment Support Scheme was introduced on 1 October 2018 as a further support to those aged 18-24. It is a work experience placement programme targeted at young jobseekers who are long-term unemployed or face barriers to employment. The young person will be place with an employer for an initial period of 6 months with a view to securing full-time employment following placement. The programme aims to provide jobseekers with the opportunity to learn basic work and social skills in a supportive environment while on a work placement.

The introduction of the Youth Employment Support Scheme has not removed the possibility of the younger cohort of unemployed people participating on CE; it has provided another option to those that require an alternative route back to employment.

I acknowledge that the challenges caused by the Covid-19 public health restrictions introduced over the course of the last 16 months, has impacted CE schemes, referrals to CE schemes and the services they provide. I met with a number of CE and Tús schemes earlier this month and we had a very constructive exchange of views on the very real challenges facing these employment support schemes, as the economy and society begins to recover from the pandemic over the coming months.

The Minister for Social Protection, Minister Humphreys and I recently announced that the current CE and Tús participants' contract extension date will be further extended until 29th October 2021. This will bring to over 11,000 the number of  CE and Tús participants benefitting from various contract extensions going back to October 2020. There will be further transitional arrangements for the cohort of CE and Tús participants whose contracts are due to come to an end from the start of November 2021 to February 2022. 

The conclusion of CE and Tús participant contracts after the 29th October 2021 will be undertaken on a coordinated and phased basis over a number of months up to February. This approach will support the recruitment of new participants while also ensuring the ongoing delivery of important community services.

With the successful continuing roll-out of the vaccine programme and in accordance with the phased re-opening of the economy by Government, my priority and the priority of the Department is to get all CE schemes back up and running so that they can fully re-commence activities, providing work experience and training opportunities to long term unemployment participants and delivering vital services to local communities. To support this, referrals to CE schemes will increase further as the economy continues to open up.

CE sponsoring authorities are also encouraged by my Department to continue to promote the benefits of CE in their local communities. They can advertise their vacancies on www.jobsireland.ie, the Department’s online job advertising and recruitment service for job candidates and employers, including CE sponsors.

Jobseekers are advised to register their interest through this website or by contacting a case officer in their local Intreo Centre who will determine their eligibility for the CE scheme. The facility to register interest in CE schemes was introduced on the website in August 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is important to note that there are currently 19,398 participants on CE and 42% of these CE participants are 55 years of age and over. Placements on CE are temporary and are subject to time limits to safeguard the availability of opportunities for employment on CE schemes for other candidates. My Department supports the provision of public employment services with a priority on activation and the progression of participants on CE from the Live Register into full-time employment.

I will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants and the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services.