Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1433. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide an update on the work and access scheme; the number that are using it; his plans to increase this number and improve the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47453/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In August 2023, my Department published a review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and Disability Awareness Support Scheme. The report made nine recommendations to merge the two schemes into a single, flexible scheme and to expand and improve the supports offered under the new scheme.

In July 2024, the new Work and Access scheme was launched. Work and Access offers seven supports to help reduce or remove barriers in the workplace for disabled people.

The supports include funding for a workplace needs assessment, work coaches, personal readers, assistive equipment and communication supports. Funding is also available to employers for workplace adaptations and disability equality and inclusion training.

Work and Access is open to all non-public sector employers, including the self-employed and people working in the community and voluntary sector. Supports are available for both business premises and remote workplaces. My Department allocated an additional €1 million a year to this scheme.

A media campaign ran last year to raise awareness surrounding the new scheme and my officials have been promoting the scheme around the country.

As of August 2025, 132 individual payments have been made totaling €227,848 for the year to date.

The Programme for Government commits to expand and build on successful programmes like the Work and Access programme to support disabled people into employment.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1434. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide an update on the wage subsidy scheme; the number that are using it; his plans to increase this number and improve the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47454/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a key disability employment support. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to people with disabilities through a subsidy.

As of August 2025, there are 1,542 employers availing of the Wage Subsidy Scheme and 2,544 employees are supported through the scheme.

Last year, my Department published a review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme following a public consultation.

The review made six recommendations, including to reduce the minimum required hours of the scheme, to regularly review the subsidy rate, and to remove terms such as ‘productivity deficit’ from the scheme to better align the scheme with the social model of disability. An additional €3.7 million has been allocated to implement the review’s recommendations.

In April 2024, the minimum hours for the scheme were reduced from 21 to 15 hours. This will help make sure employees are offered substantial work while also making the scheme more accessible.

The scheme now includes employers in the community and voluntary sector and commercial state-sponsored sector. This change will expand the pool of potential jobs and opportunities for people with disabilities. The scheme has also been expanded to employers who employ somebody returning to work in receipt of Partial Capacity Benefit. This change will allow employees to keep their job if they acquire a disability.

The final recommendation was to promote and increase awareness of the scheme in order to encourage a greater uptake among employers. In June this year, I formally launched the reformed scheme together with the Taoiseach, Minister Foley and Minister of State Naughton. Following that, we launched a media campaign to raise awareness of this very beneficial scheme for employers and employees.

I hope that the implementation of the recommendations of the review will result in an expansion of the scheme to new employers and new sectors and that there will be an increase in the number of employees on the scheme.

Notwithstanding these improvements, the Programme for Government commits to further reviewing the minimum hours requirement under the Wage Subsidy Scheme for disabled people and to examining an increase to the payment rate. These commitments will be advanced over the lifetime of the Government in the context of the annual budget process and in light of the resources available.