Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 May 2014
75. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have had their jobseeker's benefit or allowance reduced or suspended this year to date for refusing to take part in JobBridge under the youth guarantee. [19742/14]
View answerJobBridge is a voluntary scheme and sanctions are not applicable where a jobseeker decides not to avail of it. Therefore, no penalty rates or reductions have applied to date for failure to avail of the scheme.
Under the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, the Department is developing a variant of the JobBridge scheme for the most disadvantaged young people.
Under this variant, employers will be asked to make work experience places available for young people aged 18 to 25 who have low levels of educational attainment, long periods of unemployment and other social barriers to employment. It is proposed that, at any one time, 1,500 young people will have access to this variant of the JobBridge internship. Places will be ring-fenced for this group of clients and the internships will not be advertised for general availability.
Candidates will be selected and referred to the scheme by the Department and will receive, or will have already completed, work preparation courses prior to commencement. The Department will work extensively with Job Clubs, Local Employment Services and Education and Training Boards to prepare the candidates for the work experience prior to starting their internship.
The participation of clients, once referred, will be non-discretionary and penalty rate sanctions will apply to a jobseeker who fails, without good cause, to participate in this variant of the scheme.
