The employment support scheme — ESS — enables people with a disability, whose work productivity is less than average, to secure employment by providing a subsidy to employers. The scheme is administered by the National Rehabilitation Board — NRB — which selects suitable candidates for placement, undertakes the relevant productivity assessments and arranges for payment of the appropriate subsidy to employers. The current number of places taken up on the ESS is 388. The number of applications for assistance under the ESS averages 13 per month, 1997 figures. The average time to approve and activate applications for entry to the scheme is two weeks.
The current budget for the employment support scheme for 1998 is £1,189,000. There is no maximum amount of assistance in respect of any one person. However, the NRB agrees with a prospective employer a subsidy level of between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of the going rate for the job; the rate of subsidy is based on the productivity level of the individual in question. Agreement, in principle, has been reached whereby the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will assume responsibility for the ESS. This transfer of responsibility, which is subject to adequate transfer of resources, will ensure that the scheme is better placed to become integrated with the mainstream employment support measures offered by the State and a distinct separate measure from the medical model of supported work. It is anticipated that mechanisms to provide additional funding to develop the scheme will be put in place in the near future.
