Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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81. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on persons who have been supported under the back to work enterprise programme; and if she has considered the need to evolve this programme as the economy reopens. [47854/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme offers support for people who are long-term unemployed and who are interested in self-employment as a route to entering the labour market. Funding of €64.8 million has been made available for the scheme in 2021.

The BTWEA is payable to self-employed individuals for a 24-month period from the commencement of their new business. All eligible participants will receive their full period of entitlement of 24 months. This includes anyone who contacted the Department to temporarily suspend their allowance while their business closed during the pandemic.

As announced in the July Stimulus last year, the BTWEA is available to recipients of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) who qualify for a jobseekers payment and the normal qualifying period of 9 months was waived for this group.

Under the new Pathways to Work strategy 2021 – 2025, the Government is committed to utilising its existing and expanded capacity to deliver effective services in a post-Covid labour market and commits to expanding the availability of places on the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance.

Individuals in receipt of the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance can also receive the enterprise support grant. This grant offers up to €2,500 over the first two years of a new business and assists with the early business start-up costs.

I trust this clarifies the position at this time.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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82. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the consideration that is being given for flexibility for participants over 55 years of age who are currently engaged in a community employment scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48621/21]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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As the Deputy is aware, 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 meaningful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis to improve their prospect of returning to employment.

CE placements are intended to be temporary and subject to time limits. This is to ensure the continued availability of places on CE schemes for a broad range of long-term unemployed candidates, while those completing the scheme progress to employment in the open labour market.

There is already graduated additional flexibility for participants on CE aged 55 and over. For example, those over 55 years of age can remain on CE for up to three years, without undertaking formal training, while CE participants who are aged over 55 and commenced on CE prior 2017 can continue to be eligible to stay on CE for six consecutive years.

CE participants over the age of 62 can participate on a continuous basis up to the state pension age on the CE Service Support Stream (SSS). Currently up to a maximum 10% of CE places are allocated to this stream. There are 1,400 CE participants on this stream at present.

CE participants’ contracts, including those aged over 55, were extended over the course of the pandemic, as a emergency support measure, which resulted in many contracts extending beyond the time limits outlined above. Earlier this week, the Minister for Social Protection, Minister Humphreys, and I announced a further contract extension to 4th February 2022 for existing CE and Tús participants. These final contract extensions will provide all participants with additional time to complete their training and benefit from work experience on CE.

In order to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants, CE will continue to be made available to support those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market, including those whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19. At the same time the eligibility criteria for CE and the length of time persons can stay on CE is kept under active review by my Department to ensure the best outcomes for individual participants and to support the vital community services delivered by schemes.