Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The data requested by the Deputy on the number of people on the Live Register currently in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance payments, as of week ending 7th January 2024, by length of the claim is shown in the attached tabular statement.

These claims are inclusive of periods where pay may have been suspended for a recipient previously but their claim remained open. For example, casual jobseekers who subsequently received PUP payments while their jobseeker claim remained valid and open are included in the recipient figure.

Table 1: Number of recipients of Jobseekers Allowance on the Live Register by duration of the claim

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 973 and 974 together.

My Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to encourage the take-up of Employment Support opportunities, including implementing sanctions for non-engagement with the Intreo Employment Service. Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) offers income support to people who are unemployed and are available for and genuinely seeking work. Customers who do not engage with the Intreo ES process or who fail to participate in an appropriate employment intervention can have their jobseeker’s payment reduced and subsequently be disqualified from their payment for up to 9 weeks. They may also have their entitlement to Jobseekers Allowance reviewed based on a failure to genuinely seek work. These sanctions were introduced to encourage Jobseekers to engage with Employment Services with a view to ensuring that jobseekers access the supports available to find sustainable employment.

- As at the 7 January 2024 there were 420 JA recipients in receipt of a reduced rate due to non-engagement with Intreo Employment Services.

- In 2023, just over 5,200 reduced rates were applied, with just under 4,900 of those relating to recipients of JA.

Jobseekers who are long-term unemployed are those jobseekers who remain on the live register for a period greater than 12 months. A distinctive client journey has been embedded into the employment services process, whereby jobseekers on the live register, after engaging with Intreo Employment Services in the first 12 months, are referred firstly to the Intreo Partner National Employment Service (NES) and after 24 months to the Intreo Partner Local Area Employment Service (LAES), which is designed to engage with those with greater barriers to the labour market. In this way, the jobseeker is referred to the most appropriate service at each point in time on their jobseeking journey.

It is not possible to specify if a jobseeker was short term unemployed or long term unemployed at the time of the application of a reduced rate of payment in 2023.

The application of reduced rates is a robust process and Intreo ES will continue to ensure that the necessary controls are in place to monitor engagement with the Department’s Employment Support Services, and that failure to engage is managed promptly and appropriately.