Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016
813. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Social Protection the proactive measures his Department is taking to encouraging diversity in the workplace specifically with regard to the employment of persons with disabilities; and the legislative underpinning which exists to achieve greater workplace participation on the part of persons with disabilities. [26192/16]
View answerThe role of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is to ensure that workplaces are safe, employment rights are appropriate and respected, harmonious industrial relations are promoted and any disputes or breaches are handled efficiently and effectively.
My Department has a more limited role in relation to improving workplace diversity but it does provide a wide range of work related supports for people with disabilities and these supports play an important role in supporting participation by people with disabilities in the labour force. The supports include partial capacity benefit (PCB), the wage subsidy scheme, and EmployAbility (supported employment) programme.
Partial capacity benefit (PCB) was introduced in February 2012 and is designed as an income support for people on invalidity pension or illness benefit who have some capacity for work. PCB allows people to continue to receive a percentage of their illness benefit or invalidity pension payment while working. There are currently in excess of 1,600 people in receipt of PCB
The wage subsidy scheme (WSS) is an employment support to the private sector, which provides financial incentives to employers for the employment of people with disabilities. The purpose of this demand-led programme is to increase the numbers of people with disabilities participating in the open labour market. The number of employees participating in the scheme currently stands at over 2,000, having increased by a third over the course of 2015.
The EmployAbility programme is a national employment service dedicated to improving employment outcomes for job seekers with a disability. EmployAbility participants are people with a disability who are able to work a minimum of 8 hours per week and who need the support of a job coach to obtain employment in the open labour market. The number of active participants in the scheme is approximately 3,000.
My Department also operates a series of private sector employment supports to assist disabled people to access and progress in employment. These are now grouped under the umbrella name of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and include; the Employee Retention Grant Scheme( ERGS), the Workplace Equipment Adaptation Grant (WEAG), the Job Interview/Induction Interpreter Grant (JIIG) and the Personal Reader Grant(PRGS).
Other employer supports in include the Disability Awareness Support Scheme(DASS) which assists the integration of disabled people into the workplace and helps to eliminate mistaken perceptions about them. It is available to all companies in the private sector who are interested in employing, retaining or relating to people with disabilities.
In addition my Department has, through Intreo, extended its full activation support service to people with disabilities who wish to avail of the service on a voluntary basis. As part of the DSP commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES), co-ordinated by the Department of Justice, my Department is collaborating with the HSE, Genio and Mental Health Reform in the Integrating Employment and Mental Health Support Project (IEMHS). The project aims to demonstrate how existing mental health and supported employment (EmployAbility) services can fulfil the best practice Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment through improved integration. Four pilot projects have been established in Mayo, West Cork, Cavan/Monaghan and Galway.
Other developments that will inform measures promoting participation of people with disabilities in the world of work include the publication of the Report of the Disability Allowance Survey 2015, and the formation of an interdepartmental group to examine the complex interaction between the tax, and benefit system and net take home pay, in the context of people with disabilities availing of employment opportunities. The interdepartmental working group, which is charged with considering this topic, will examine the range of barriers to employment and, conversely, supports which assist people with disabilities return to work and is expected to report by end-2016.
