JobPath Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 November 2017

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Questions (41)

Aindrias Moynihan

Question:

41. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to introduce flexibility into the JobPath programme whereby JobPath co-ordinators may have leeway when dealing with persons who have a guarantee of employment in the near future or who may be employed on a seasonal or part-time basis to excuse them from JobPath while maintaining their benefits; the number of persons on the JobPath programme who have employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50552/17]

Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan

This issue has arisen regularly. People who want to participate in a community employment scheme or various other schemes believe they are trapped in JobPath and Turas Nua. They are looking for flexibility in order that they can switch back and forth between the most appropriate schemes to allow them to up-skill and move on in their careers and lives without being trapped in Turas Nua.

Deputy Regina Doherty

All persons in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment are required to be seeking full-time work, a condition which a person must satisfy at all times. Customers referred to JobPath who are also working part time will have all activities, including meetings with their personal adviser, scheduled around their work commitments. The JobPath contractors are required to be flexible in the provision of the service in that respect. For those customers who take up seasonal work when engaged with JobPath, the service will offer in-work support and customers will not be required to attend meetings with their personal adviser until the employment ends. The customer effectively comes off JobPath for the period of their seasonal work and come back onto the scheme when they are finished.

In the case of jobseekers already in part-time or seasonal employment, the focus will be on opportunities to increase the level of employment in their current role, or look at possibilities in other areas, including training, which may provide a more sustainable income and for a move away from jobseeker payments.

On the number of clients who have gained employment, it will take time to accumulate a sufficient number of clients who have completed their engagement period with the service for complete and robust outcome data to be available. However, the most recent cohort report published on the Department’s website indicates that 19% of jobseekers who engaged with JobPath between July 2015 and March 2016 are now in full-time employment.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan

Does the Minister accept that people who want to participate in community employment schemes are being excluded? This issue has been raised a number of times, including in my office in recent days. There is a constant flow of queries and many Deputies will have had the same experience. If a person has a guarantee of a job or an opportunity to participate in a community employment scheme or avail of various other opportunities and is then pulled towards Turas Nua, he or she feels obliged to take that route. People believe they are losing out on the opportunity to participate in community employment schemes or the opportunity to avail of an internship or participate in the vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, and that they are being excluded from what would be an opportunity to up-skill in being pulled into a one-size-that-does-not-fit-all scheme such as Turas Nua. The scheme has been in place for a number of years and is due for review. The original contract was for four years. The provision of flexibility to allow people to take the other routes, without having to enter the Turas Nua scheme, as some feel pressured to do, is one of the issues that must be identified.

Deputy Regina Doherty

There is no competition between activation programmes. Tús, the community employment programme, Seetech and Turas Nua are all providing activation programmes which are slightly different for different people, but there is no competition between the community employment programme and JobPath as activation measures. They are different streams of processes supported by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to try to get people into work.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan

One solution may suit an individual better than another.

Deputy Regina Doherty

That is why we choose very carefully who is sent to JobPath, the commmunity employment programme or Tús. With respect, each of them provides a different level of training or work experience to make sure people are job-ready. JobPath provides participants with a guaranteed service which includes not only one-to-one support and training but also a continual counselling and advice service to make sure they will be matched with the jobs available or that they will be retrained in order that they can make themselves available to fill the jobs available. However, there is no competition across the range of employment schemes. Each has been designed to specifically address a particular section of the market.

There have been some complaints in recent months that people are finding it harder to fill CE schemes because people are on another activation measure, but no one has ever told me that there is a problem filling CE schemes because they are on Tús, the rural social scheme, RSS, a partial capacity payment or an invalidity payment. There is no draw here from one section to another. We offer services in this Department which suit the needs of particular people at particular times. JobPath is doing its job particularly admirably, considering that it has a 16% success rate.

Question No. 42 replied to after Question No. 43.