Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2014
107. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of young jobseekers who have been offered and completed personal progression plans as part of the youth guarantee. [35555/14]
View answerThe intervention and activation process governing the Youth Guarantee is essentially a tailored version of the Pathways to Work activation model with a greater focus on early engagement for all younger job-seekers compared to job-seekers in other age categories.
For the 18-24 age group, the engagement process begins when they register for welfare/employment supports at their local Intreo office and are awarded a jobseeker’s payment. At registration they are then profiled using our profiling system.
A Personal Progression Plan (PPP) is then agreed between the young person and the case officer during a 1-2-1 interview process.
Approximately 15,000 clients under 25 have completed personal progression plans or action plans so far this year. This number is relatively low as the engagement process does not currently discriminate on the basis of age. In order for earlier engagement with under 25s to take place, legislation allowing positive discrimination was passed over the course of the summer which allows the full implementation of the youth guarantee and, in particular, the process of earlier engagement with under 25s is now able to proceed. This process will be fully operationalised in October and will lead to a significant increase in the number of personal progression plans for under 25s.
