Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 February 2015
96. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form on a county basis the number of persons who have received sanctions imposed on their jobseeker payment due to failure to meet all the conditions that apply to the payment per annum from 2011 to 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5418/15]
View answerIn order to qualify for a jobseeker’s payment, a person must meet certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for, capable of and genuinely seeking full-time work. A range of sanctions, including disqualification, closure or disallowance of the jobseeker claim, may be imposed where a client fails to meet the stated conditions. A jobseeker claim may be reviewed at any time in order to establish continued entitlement.
Additionally, in relation to activation, legislation provides that further sanctions/penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by a Deciding Officer where clients fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures. Activation measures include the requirement to attend group or individual meetings, and/or avail of suitable education, training or development opportunities, or specified employment programmes, which are considered appropriate to a person’s circumstances.
Where a person continues to fail, without good cause, to comply with activation measures, while on a penalty rate, he/she may be disqualified from receiving the personal rate of payment (effective rate reduction to zero). The normal rate of payment may be reinstated at any time, if the jobseeker complies, as requested, with activation measures.
Total numbers of reduced rates applied (including zero rate), since their introduction in Q2 2011, are as set out in the table. The data are not available by county.
|
Year |
Number Applied |
|
2011 |
359 |
|
2012 |
1,519 |
|
2013 |
3,395 |
|
2014 |
5,325 |
|
Total |
10,598 |
