Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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271. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of disabled people who availed of the wage subsidy scheme in each year from 2017 to 2021; the expenditure on the wage subsidy scheme for people with disabilities in each year from 2017 to 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52547/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities and thereby increase the numbers of people with disabilities obtaining and sustaining employment in the open labour market. The scheme provides financial incentives to private sector employers to hire people with a disability for between 21 and 39 subsidised hours per week under a contract of employment.

The basic rate of subsidy is €6.30 per hour giving a total annual subsidy available of €12,776 per annum based on a 39-hour week. The contract of employment offered must be for a minimum of 6 months and the employee should be subject to and have the same rights as per the conditions of employment as any of the other employees. Included in these conditions is the requirement that the employee must be paid the going rate for the job which must be at least the statutory minimum wage. The person with a disability must be either a new employee for that company, or an employee who has been employed in that company for a period of no longer than 12 months.

As requested by the Deputy, the table below outlines the expenditure on and the number of employers and participant employees who availed of the Wage Subsidy Scheme for each year between 2017 and 2021:

Wage Subsidy Scheme Expenditure, Recipients and Participants 2017- 2021

As part of my department’s commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy, a review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is currently being undertaken and a public consultation will be held in the coming months. The public consultation will invite people with disabilities, employers, and the general public to share their views on the Scheme and how it operates within an overall policy context.

I trust that the Deputy will find this information useful.