Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

189. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is he is concerned that recent policy changes outlined in correspondence (details supplied) will impact on projects that depend on community employment, CE, participants to deliver services and supports for communities; if he plans to reduce down the time on which recipients of certain payments must be in receipt of such payments before they can qualify for participation on a CE scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31050/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The aim of Community Employment (CE) is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. In addition, it helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return-to-work routine.

The Deputy may wish to note that no changes have been introduced recently by my Department’s Intreo Employment Services in terms of its processes for referring suitable customers to its CE programmes.

Eligible customers can access CE through a variety of pathways. They may be referred from Intreo Employment Service or Intreo Partners following engagement with a personal advisor/case officer, they can submit an expression of interest in a specific CE vacancy via the Departments JobsIreland recruitment website and they may approach a CE scheme Sponsor or Supervisor directly for referral to a vacancy.

The Intreo Employment Service also operates a dedicated central CE recruitment team who identify eligible customers and make referrals where appropriate. CE is promoted regularly at recruitment events organised by Intreo and vacancies are promoted through JobsIreland and by CE Sponsors.

The general rule relating to eligibility for participation on CE is that the person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment for 12 months or more. This is to ensure that the scheme is targeted at those furthest removed from the labour market and who will benefit most from participation. The exceptions to the eligibility criteria apply to those who would be considered among the most vulnerable in society and include people from the Traveller or Roma communities and people with addiction issues or who have recently been released from prison.

My Department, working together with CE sponsors have made a number of changes in recent times to support CE sponsors in their recruitment and retention of participants. These changes include:

• A provision to allow CE participants who reach 60 years of age to remain in CE until they reach state pension age.
• Some flexibility granted to CE Sponsors to extend individual placements to retain existing participants in cases where no replacement is immediately available.
• Changes to eligibility criteria extending CE eligibility to the adult dependents of those in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• A new pilot scheme to extend CE eligibility to those over 50 years of age in receipt of credits or a combination of credits & Jobseekers Benefit.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.