Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated additional cost of increasing the funding to the disability awareness support scheme by 5%, 10% and 25%, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36628/21]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated additional cost of increasing the funding to the employee retention grant scheme for employees who have acquired an illness, condition or impairment by 5%, 10% and 25%, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36629/21]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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86. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated additional cost of increasing the funding to the reasonable accommodation fund by 5%, 10% and 25%, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36630/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 84, 85 and 86 together.

In addition to providing income supports the Department of Social Protection (DSP) provides a wide range of employment-related supports for both jobseekers / employees with disabilities and employers seeking to support an employee who has a disability or when employing a jobseeker (with a disability). These include

1. Disability Awareness Support Scheme (DASS Grant)

DASS provides a contribution towards the cost of disability awareness training for private sector employers. The training to be delivered must, for example, provide clear and accurate information about disability, address questions that employers/employees may have, and cover anti-discrimination / equal opportunities legislation. The value of the grants available is as set out below:

2. Reasonable Accommodation Fund Grants (RAFG)

The four grants available under this fund are:

a.Workplace Equipment / Adaptation Grant

Where a person with a disability has been offered employment, is in employment or is self-employed and requires a more accessible workplace or adapted equipment to do the job, s/he or the employer may be able to get a grant towards the costs of adapting premises or equipment. A maximum grant of €6,350 is available towards the cost of adaptations to premises or equipment. Applications in excess of this sum are considered on an individual basis up to a maximum of €9,523 if specialist training for assistive technology is required.

Employee Retention Grant

The purpose of the Employee Retention Grant Scheme is to assist employers to retain employees who acquire a disability by providing funding to:

- Identify accommodation and / or training to enable the employee to remain in his/her current position; or

- Re-train the employee so that s/he can take up another position within the company

Funding is provided in two stages

Stage 1. This stage is subject to a maximum of €2,500 or 90% of eligible programme costs per employee to:

- hire specialists to evaluate the employee’s occupational capacity;

- and conduct a workplace or job assessment to develop an individualised written Retention Strategy.

Stage 2. This stage is subject to a maximum of €12,500 or 90% of eligible programme costs per employee to:

- train the employee for their current position or to retrain them for another position within the company;

- hire a Job Coach to offer support to the employee, and liaise with the employee’s line manager for a maximum period of 300 hours; and

- hire a specialist, to manage the Retention Strategy on an ongoing basis until reintegration is complete, for a maximum period of 60 hours.

Job Interview Interpreter Grant

A jobseeker who is deaf, hard of hearing or has speech impairment and is attending job interviews, may apply for funding to have a sign language interpreter or other interpreter to attend interviews. A three hour period for each interview can be funded, the amount of the grant payable is based on an hourly fee paid which may vary. A person may have several interviews arranged and can apply for funding for each (there is no limit to the number of interviews a person can attend with an interpreter).

Funding is also available to cover the cost of an interpreter to assist a person during the induction process, when he / she starts work with a private sector employer. A maximum of three hours interpreter support is available, to be utilised by the person as he / she feels is needed

Both the interview interpreter funding and in-employment interpreter support funding, for induction, can be provided. In addition, the grant can also be used to cover travel costs for the Interpreter – the cost of public transport or, if not available, a set rate per KM is applied.

Personal Reader Grant

A person employed in the private sector who is (or is becoming) blind or visually impaired, and who needs assistance with job-related reading, can apply for a grant to support them to employ a personal reader. The amount of the grant payable is based on an hourly fee paid to the reader, in line with the current minimum wage, for an agreed period - for a maximum of 640 hours per year.

It is important to note that these grants differ from the income supports (such as Disability Allowance or the Blind Pension) provided by the Department, in that they are demand led. The overall value of the grants provided each year rises or falls in response to the number of applications received. It is therefore not possible to predict in advance the impact of percentage increases with any degree of certainty. However, details of the value and number of grants provided, by each grant type, in 2020 are set out in the table below for information.

Finally, it is also important to note that the funding the Department makes available through the grants it administers, does not impact or lessen the obligation on employers to provide reasonable accommodations. The provision of reasonable accommodations by all employers is a legally enforceable right for both jobseekers and employees. The Employment Equality Acts oblige employers to take reasonable steps to accommodate the needs of both employees and job applicants with disabilities, except where to do so would impose a disproportionate burden on them.

Table: Number and value of grants issued 2020

*provisional, until accounts for the period are finalised.