Vol. 757 No. 3
1Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Social Protection if private contractors will be hired by her to operate one stop shops as announced in Budget 2012; if existing staff will be re-trained or re-deployed to meet the new demands; if the revenue implications of this decision have been detailed; if so, if she will provide details of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11948/12]
2Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the way she intends to deliver the deeper and more regular engagement with NEES promised in Pathways to Work with fewer staff and less resources. [11950/12]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
Pathways to Work is a new approach to the provision of services to unemployed people, the objective of which is to reduce the level of long-term unemployment and, in so doing, to ensure the overall level of unemployment will reduce as the economy returns to growth.
In developing the policy the Government is acutely aware that the level of long-term unemployment at approximately 40% and unemployment among young people at approximately 30% could, as in previous recessions, become embedded and persist past the economic upturn. The Government is determined not to let this happen. There are two major elements to the Government's response – the action plan for jobs and pathways to work. The goal of the action plan for jobs is to create new jobs and the goal of Pathways to Work is to help ensure that as many as possible of those jobs, and other job vacancies, get filled by people from the live register.
Pathways to Work has five major strands. They include, more regular and ongoing engagement with people who are unemployed; greater targeting of activation places and opportunities; incentivising the take-up of opportunities; incentivising employers to provide more jobs for people who are unemployed; and reforming institutions to deliver better services to people who are unemployed.
The project plan for the National Employment and Entitlements Service, NEES, was approved by Government last June. Since then considerable progress has been made and the transfer of the community welfare service, CWS, and the FÁS employment service were completed on schedule in October 2011 and January 2012, respectively. The Department is now developing the new integrated service as set out in Pathways to Work. The new integrated service will be piloted from four office locations in May of this year and extended to a further ten offices by the end of the year.
As the question suggested, the roll-out of the new service will be very challenging for my Department and will require the allocation of additional internal staff and external resources to employment services and activation work. The transfer of approximately 1,700 staff from the CWS and FÁS, the majority of whom have significant experience in working with clients in a case management model has enhanced the capabilities of the Department in this regard. In addition, the Department is also engaged in a programme of systems development and process change that should enable staff from within its own resources to be deployed in accordance with the new model.
The use of external resources, including private sector providers of employment services, will be also considered. It must be noted however that the use of external resources is nothing new - the Department, previously FÁS, engages approximately 23 local employment service, LES, providers to provide employment services including job coaching, mentoring, and job search assistance to the people who are long-term unemployed and funds those activities to the value of €20 million per annum. Currently, approximately 300 staff are engaged by LES companies in the provision of employment services. The Department also has similar external contract arrangements in place to cater for the requirements of clients with disabilities who wish to return to the workforce.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
With regard to the use of private sector providers, the use of such providers is being evaluated by the Department. As part of this process the Department has reviewed the experience in a number of other countries and has met or had telephone conferences with its counterparts in France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Norway. The Department has also met with Professor Dan Finn from the centre for social inclusion at the University of Portsmouth. Professor Finn is an acknowledged expert in the area of contracting public employment services. It is clear from the work done to date that the use of private sector providers is common throughout OECD countries with different models in place in different states. No firm proposals have been developed as yet but if, and when, such proposals are developed the issues raised by the experience of other countries will inform the approach taken by the Department and the issues raised by the Deputies will be also considered.
I thank the Minister for her response to the priority question. She stated that some external contractors will be appointed to engage with the new staff when they have been trained. It will involve private companies engaging with social welfare claimants. Often that is a results-based contract where contractors are paid according to their success in getting claimants back to work. Similar situations arise in other countries such as Australia and the United States where private contractors have exploited the relationship by cherry-picking claimants most likely to return to work and avoiding the most difficult cases. In this instance, that would defeat the exercise. Could the Minister clarify the situation?
The Minister referred to 1,600 workers from FÁS coming to the Department, in addition to community welfare officers and the training that will be involved in augmenting the new programme. How much funding has been allocated for that purpose? Is there provision for the spend and has it been included in the allocation for the coming year?
The Department is currently evaluating the various models operating in other countries. I expect to be able to develop proposals following the evaluation. I am extremely conscious of what the Deputy has referenced, which is the negative experiences in some countries, as well as positive experiences. In this country, using the local employment services model, we have experience of taking in people to provide services who are not civil servants through external agencies and companies. I hope we will use the best models that are available.
There is no compelling evidence one way or the other from international experiences about a greater effectiveness from the private sector. The net issue here is, given that so many people are unemployed and need assistance to get back into training and education, what additional resources do we require and what other models can develop and use, either within the public service or with the assistance on a selective basis of the private sector to improve the service to those who are unemployed? That is the net issue.
I listened to the Minister's reply. I welcomed the idea of the NEES that was outlined in the presentation, in addition to Pathways to Work on previous occasions. Yesterday, the Minister lost 246 staff from the Department as a result of the early retirement scheme and she is not replacing the majority of them.
The numbers applying for social welfare payments has been increasing across every scheme since the recession commenced. The Department's budget has been cut by €811 million. By 2014, its spending will have been cut by a further €1 billion. Has the Department the capacity to deliver a deeper and more regular engagement with jobseekers? There are more job-ready people than there are jobs. The European Vacancy Monitor, EVM, suggests one vacancy for every 50 jobseekers. This presents a large challenge. I am not being negative and I wish the Minister luck. The least that the unemployed deserve is a meaningful engagement with the Department, by which I mean a pathway to work, as suggested by the title of the initiative.
The Deputy's concerns are shared by everyone. This represents a major change for the Department, which took in an extra 1,000 employees from the Community Welfare Service, CWS, an extra 700 employees from the FÁS employment services and approximately 300 people who work in local employment service companies to provide one-to-one monitoring. We are also investing heavily in the roll-out of additional computer systems and other developments, for example, the personal services card.
It is all change in the Department. Many of the additional CWS and FÁS personnel have considerable experience of one-to-one interactions with clients and customers, which is precisely the kind of background and experience that is required when providing intensive help to someone who has unfortunately become long-term unemployed.
As to resourcing the roll-out, staff in the public service are committed under the Croke Park agreement to responding to the requirements for change. Since I became Minister, intensive work has been under way in this regard. The Department's senior management is continuously and actively engaged in the process.
It all comes back to the fact that there are 50 jobseekers for every vacancy, which is well above the EU average. The Minister mentioned the large number of staff who have been taken on by her Department, but it has also taken on a large amount of extra work.
Absolutely.
The staff require a great deal of training. When can we expect the full roll-out of profiling, the group management or group hug-type idea and access to jobs and training, which are required if the plan is to work?
My initial question on the private companies to be taken on to initiate part of this process was in a similar vein, given the fact that staff have been lost and others are joining the Minister's Department from other Departments and will need to be trained. The Pathways to Work initiative is an honest effort to address this issue and we agree with the concept of the one-stop-shop, but the training, placement and correct management of the service will not be ready until later this year, if at all. For example, SOLAS will not be on stream for another year. Has the Minister explored the types of contracts and safeguards that will be developed for private companies or is she depending on prior experience with the companies in question?
The new system of drawing a profile or picture of new applicants has been tested. In the roll-out and testing to date, approximately 7,000 such profiles have been done. The model for the prediction of exit was developed in conjunction with the ESRI.
In May, we will launch four offices that will be models for the new integrated service. Their locations will be King's Inns Street, Tallaght, Arklow and Sligo. We will roll the initiative out to a further ten offices later this year. We have an ambitious roll-out programme.
The private sector can bring attributes to the table. We are examining models. However, reports seem to indicate that some models are not particularly appropriate for Ireland. For example, the cherry-picking that is payments by results has been criticised. There has been an active debate on this matter in the UK. On the other hand, good private sector models can probably bring expertise to the Department.
We have a large staff. Through the Croke Park agreement, staff in trade unions have agreed to co-operate with change. Their response to the roll-out of the new system, which is being led on the ground by senior management, has been positive. I look forward to positive outcomes but it represents a significant transformational change in the Department.
3Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection whether she has or will consider introducing pension and social welfare entitlement incentives as a means of encouraging persons approaching retirement age to engage in job share arrangements to transition towards retirement and simultaneously provide employment opportunities to facilitate others in remaining in or re-entering the workforce; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11999/12]
In the first instance, responsibility for the terms and conditions of employment for public sector workers, including retirement and pension issues, lies with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin. As the Deputy will be aware, the previous Government introduced a moratorium preventing the recruitment of staff in the public sector except in limited circumstances. This decision was made in the context of the agreement with the troika. Regarding the private sector and occupational pension schemes specifically, the trust deed and-or scheme rules will determine retirement dates. Any change to these provisions would be a matter for the pension scheme trustees and-or the employers.
The public sector already has extensive work sharing and family friendly arrangements for employees, as do some private sector employers, particularly the larger ones. Recent research on intergenerational solidarity by the OECD demonstrates that the rate of employment of younger people has no relationship with the rate of employment of older people. The OECD states: "The idea that public policy can re-shuffle a fixed number of jobs between workers of different ages is simply not true in anything but the very short-term."
Given the agreement with the troika and the current financial environment, it would be difficult to create a new scheme. If we are to deliver on our social contract to those in retirement, we need people to remain in work for as long as possible so that we can deliver the supports necessary on retirement. The challenges facing the pension system are significant.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
The population share of those aged 65 years and over is expected to more than double by 2050. People are living longer and healthier lives with average life expectancy set to rise even further in the future, up to 88 years for women and 83.9 years for men. In contrast, the share of the working age population is projected to decline gradually from 68% to 58%. Currently, there are six people of working age for every pensioner and this ratio is expected to decrease to less than 2:1 by mid-century. Therefore, the task of financing increasing pension spending will fall to a diminishing share of the working population. In view of this the introduction of a scheme that encouraged reduced participation in the labour market for older workers would be inconsistent with the interaction of current working age and pensions policy.
In terms of assisting those on the live register to secure employment, my Department operates a range of employment support measures designed to encourage and support social welfare recipients of working age to reduce their dependency on welfare payments. These measures are consistent with efforts being made to encourage and facilitate people to continue to work up to and beyond pension age.
I originally put this proposal to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation several months ago but it was rejected. Approximately 450,000 people are out of work and many of them are highly qualified. The emigration rates are abnormal and many of our people will leave the country after passing through the education system.
This scheme would operate on a completely voluntary basis in the public and private sectors and it should not affect the Croke Park agreement or the embargo. It merely facilitates those who wish to share work. I urge the Minister to seriously consider the scheme given that it could take thousands of people off the live register and give them the opportunity to get on the career ladder and develop their skills.
Deputy Fleming is proposing a form of sharing work, particularly among those who might wish to slow down as they get older. The public service already offers generous facilities in terms of jobsharing and family friendly hours. In the context of our current economic difficulties and the costs that would arise, we will need exit the troika programme before we can go further than that. We will also have to ensure that people contribute over a sufficient period of their working lives to build up pension entitlements. The enormous increase in life expectancy in Ireland means that the population of older people will slowly but surely grow. We have to balance one with the other.
I would take the last five years of a person's working life as the timeframe for the scheme. A mechanism can be developed to allow personal pensions to be maintained over this period. Those who start on the career ladder with two or three days of work would not be paying pension contributions because they would be on a fixed contract. There is potential in this scheme for a win-win outcome. As the measure would be cost neutral I ask the Minister to give it serious consideration. I am sure she would be favourably disposed towards it if she examined it closely, even if a bit of tweaking is needed.
I understand why the Deputy originally contacted the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation about the scheme. I am aware of job sharing arrangements in other countries but, from the point of view of my Department, we would have to be careful that pension contributions were not diminished. In light of our welcome longevity in life expectancy and the increasing proportion of older people in the population, I have to ensure people contribute enough to their pensions, whether the contributory old pension or private pension schemes. There is merit in considering the scheme but it would have to cover these costs.
The job sharing arrangements available to the public service are fairly generous and certain large private employers offer similar schemes. People usually avail of such schemes because of family commitments but the arrangements are expensive. Later this year we will publish an actuarial review of the cost of the old age pension and perhaps at that point we will investigate the cost of covering a pension for a person who has retired and whether the contributions would be sufficient.
4Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress that has been made in the ongoing review of community employment schemes; when the reviews are due to report; if any CE schemes will be closed as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11949/12]
Currently, 1,143 community employment schemes are in operation nationally, with 23,300 place, 22,000 participants and 1,300 full-time equivalent supervisor posts. The budgeted number of places for participants and supervisors in 2012 will be the same as in 2011. The overall estimated budget for community employment will be in excess of €315 million for 2012.
Community employment schemes are part of a broad range of employment supports that will cost €977 million in 2012, compared to €882 million in 2011. This increase of €95 million against a backdrop of significant fiscal consolidation underlines the Government's commitment to enhancing support for employment. The process of reviewing the schemes is well advanced and each scheme has been communicated with and met by an official of my Department. The outcomes of these meetings are now being examined on a regional basis with a view to identifying funding requirements and the savings that can be achieved within the limits set down by the Department. The analysis of these outcomes will form the basis of the review findings which will be available from the end of March. Due to the widespread consultation process it is not possible to make any recommendations or decisions until the process is completed.
Initial feedback is that the additional flexibility of €1,000 provided by my Department has helped to ease the situation. There is a growing realisation that some reduction is necessary given the budgetary constraints and this is generally accepted in principle. A series of meetings is taking place at national level with representative bodies in regard to coming up with solutions as to how savings can be gained within the programme. Further such meetings are planned.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
The financial review is due to be completed by the end of March 2012. In the normal course of events in any one year a number of community employment projects may close. This can be for a variety of reasons, including amalgamation of schemes. When this situation does arise all efforts are made to ensure that the participants transfer to other projects in their own communities or areas. The same applies to supervisors who are facilitated in transferring to community employment or other employment programmes in their areas. In many situations new sponsors will emerge to continue the delivery of the services for the community.
No decisions in regard to the closing of CE schemes will be made until the financial review process is completed and all options are considered. There is also a review of employment support programmes, which include community employment. Stakeholders are also being consulted as part of this review process. This review will also be completed by the end of March 2012. These reviews and subsequent reports at both the individual CE scheme level and at the macro level will provide good evidence on which to base future policy and ensure the most appropriate support for participants and the services provided to the community and voluntary sector.
I assure the House of my full appreciation of the value of CE schemes locally. Our focus is now on achieving improved outcomes both in terms of service provided at local level and job progression for CE participants.
The Minister indicated that €360 million was spent on community employment schemes in 2011 but the provision in the budget is €315 million. Where a scheme can make the case for funding before the process has been completed, the cut will be €500. She cannot, therefore, claim that she is committing the same amount as last year.
Was the review group consulted on the Pathways to Work scheme launched last week in light of its impact on community employment schemes? Was the Minister aware of the plans to reform community employment schemes contained in the Pathways to Work document in advance of the announcement of cuts to these schemes in the budget?
It appears the Minister may be considering the emphasis in CE schemes away from job creation towards a broader social role.
I have discussed this on a number of occasions with the Deputies present in the House. Responsibility for CE schemes transferred to the Department of Social Protection on 1 January and the review within the Department of Social Protection could commence only at that point. There was a commitment to two reviews, both of which are under way and which should be completed by the end of March. The Deputy referred to the reduction in the overall budget, but that is in the context of my Department's employment support budget increasing by €95 million. In addition an extra €20 million is being provided to the Department of Education and Skills for training initiatives. We need to consider how we can best provide CE schemes where there is an element of training. In some schemes there is a very strong training content and in other schemes the training element simply may be at the beginning of a person's participation and may not continue in the years thereafter.
Some fascinating information is available and becoming available on CE schemes. While I do not want to prejudge the outcome of the review, in some schemes they are paying very high rents and in other schemes they have significant costs in areas such as insurance and audit. In some of those schemes it would be possible to make significant savings.
That €1,500 comprises a training and materials grant. The Minister has said that the training budget in her Department has increased and this might compensate for the gap I have identified.
It is the overall employment support budget.
The Minister is suggesting she has manoeuvrability to compensate.
Some.
Would it not be wiser for the Minister to complete the review, identify the savings to which she alludes, and apply that in the context of next year's budget while allowing these schemes to get the training and materials grant for which they would have budgeted towards the end of last year to cater for their schemes in this year? Is it open to the Minister to exercise that option in this year?
Responsibility for the CE schemes transferred to the Department of Social Protection along with the FÁS employment services. I am very committed to the role of CE schemes. As I have said previously, they provide very valuable social services. We need to consider the quality of experience people gain on the schemes. We must also seek value for money. As the Deputy is aware all areas of my Department have been targeted for savings. However, the troika takes a detailed interest in what one might call the activation and employment support policies of the Department of Social Protection. I am anxious that in the conversations with the troika we get recognition of the important social aspect of the schemes for communities. As the Deputy is aware several reviews of CE have been conducted. CE is principally identified as an employment activation measure with the hope of a person completing a CE scheme and shortly afterwards getting a job external from the CE scheme. All the studies have shown - all of us would know this from our personal experience - that depending on the type of scheme, that may not happen. The literature on CE schemes regards them as a simple activation measure. Given that the responsibility for the schemes has transferred to my Department, we should acknowledge their social role and build it into the assessment of the schemes. Some schemes or elements of some schemes constitute social employment, which is very valuable. However, that can be very different from a pure labour activation role. When the review is concluded and as we get the data, that is one of the issues we will examine very closely.
5Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the scope, format and timeframe of the review she is conducting of the domiciliary care allowance scheme; if she is seeking views specifically from parents; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the notice period given in advance of the review of a child’s payment is too short to allow for the parent to gather the medical reports and documentation needed to support their application for the continuation of the payment; if her further attention has been drawn to the anxiety and distress these reviews are causing parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11951/12]
Domiciliary care allowance is paid to more than 24,000 parents and guardians in respect of 26,000 children at a cost of approximately €100 million in 2011, with the accompanying respite care grant costing a further €45 million. In addition, the Department makes an extensive range of payments to support families with children. In 2011, some €2.08 billion was paid out in respect of 1.13 million children on child benefit. In addition, qualified child increases were also paid to people on social welfare payments in respect of 495,000 children.
Domiciliary care allowance is a monthly payment to the parent or guardian of a child with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and-or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.
I have asked the advisory group on tax and social welfare to examine and report on the policy objectives underpinning the budget 2012 proposals regarding changes in eligibility criteria and rates of payment for disability allowance and the increase in the age threshold for payment of domiciliary care allowance, and to assess the overall effectiveness of these proposals in delivering on these objectives. The advisory group has sought submissions from interested parties and I expect that the group will commence its work on this issue in the near future.
Representations from parents, guardians and-or representative groups on the operation of the scheme are routinely reviewed by officials of my Department.
Individual domiciliary care allowance cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
Reviews are initiated with the parent-guardian being asked to complete a review of medical criteria form, which also requires medical input from the child's GP. The parent returns this form together with any additional recent reports of ongoing medical or therapeutic services the child may be receiving. While 21 days is allowed for the return of the completed review form and supporting documentation, flexibility is given where some additional time is needed to obtain specific reports.
This information is then sent for review by a medical assessor who will provide an opinion to the deciding officer on whether the child continues to meet the medical criteria for receipt of the payment.
The decision of the deciding officer is communicated to the customer in writing and he or she is given the option to appeal to the social welfare appeals office. Any new or additional information received after the issue of the revised decision and before the appeal is heard is further assessed by a medical assessor. In this way, the review process affords parents and guardians every opportunity to provide additional information and to have this information assessed at an early stage with payment restored, where necessary, without the necessity of an appeal hearing.
My Department is committed to ensuring that those children who meet the conditions for the scheme will continue to receive the payment.
In January I welcomed the Ministers intention to review the domiciliary care allowance - nobody has a problem with a review. Will the Minister commit that the advisory group on tax and social welfare will consult with the carers association and parents organisations on the domiciliary care allowance? Most people are not aware that the group that is reviewing whether to cut the disability allowance is also reviewing the domiciliary care allowance. While nobody has a problem with reviews, the problem is that 21 days is insufficient to get the professional letters that are required. I ask the Minister to instruct the Department to automatically notify the parents in receipt of domiciliary care allowance in advance of the review so that they have a number of months, given that it can take up to six months to get the professional documentation required.
Has there been an increase in the number of individual reviews of these cases? It is causing distress to a number of people who have been in contact with me and other Deputies. These are parents of children with lifelong debilitating disabilities with no chance of the condition improving in the future.
I put it to the Deputy that there were advertisements in the newspaper recently relating to the review being carried out and an invitation to interested individuals or organisations. Certainly, I will ask the officials of the Department to re-advise any of the caring organisations that the review is ongoing and that they have been asked to make submissions. I understand they are all aware of it but I will re-check the position.
Some 1,700 domiciliary care allowance cases are scheduled to be reviewed in 2012. This issue arises as part of the review process as well and it is often indicated when the domiciliary care allowance is first given. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh will appreciate, in the case of some conditions affecting children there may be - hopefully there will be - a recovery while in other cases where there is a lifelong disability, there may not. Overall approximately 40% of all claims are awarded the allowance. The success rate does not vary to any significant degree between claims relating to intellectual and physical disabilities. The success rate for claims relating to intellectual and physical disabilities is similar. I recognise that question has been raised by some people.
I have raised the issue because most parents I have dealt with were not aware of a review date. Sometimes if one rings up in advance one can get the date but one is not informed at the start that there will be a review in one, two or three years. It does not matter much whether they are informed at the start or whether notice goes out with sufficient time for them to make the preparation to get the most up-to-date information from the professionals dealing with it.
Does the Minister agree that no domiciliary care allowance payment should be withdrawn without the deciding officers meeting the parents and child involved? This reassurance could deal with some of the concerns of parents who have a child with a disability so severe that the child needs care and attention or supervision over and above that of another child of the same age. This reassurance would address most of the concerns of parents.
Deputy Ó Snodaigh has suggested that parents should be given a longer period of notice before a review takes place. I will examine whether that is possible. The Deputy is aware that the domiciliary care allowance was taken over from the HSE and the Department of Health only a short number of years ago. The assessment for the domiciliary care allowance and the reviews are medically based. Therefore, as the Deputy is aware, it depends on the level of medical information and witness brought forward. It is a desk-based review because the medical advice, diagnosis, judgment and so on is given by the child's medical advisers. I am unsure whether the Deputy is suggesting there should be further direct medical examination of the children by the Department. The problem in that case would be that it might impose considerable additional stress on families if they had to undergo another set of medical examinations. I am unsure if that is what the Deputy meant.
What if the pre-notice was not changed?
I take the reference to expanding and extending the pre-notice period. None of the cases taken over from the HSE has been fully reviewed as yet. When the medical diagnosis and assessments are made there are often review dates put on the file to determine how the child progresses. Perhaps shortly after the initial award is made the parents could be advised so that they are made aware.
