Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018
129. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in the south east to date who have found employment through the JobPath service; the number of persons in the south east who have returned to claim social welfare payments having previously taken up employment through the JobPath service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46855/18]
View answerJobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment.
Jobseekers may be supported through the service for up to 30 months: under the service jobseekers have access to a personal adviser (PA) who works with them potentially over two phases.
During the first phase, of 12 months duration, the PA provides practical assistance in searching, preparing for, securing and sustaining employment. It should be noted that the aim of the JobPath service is to find sustainable employment for clients during this phase. The second phase only starts if the jobseeker is successful in finding work (during phase one). During this phase the PA continues to work with the jobseeker for a further period of at least three months, and up to 12 months, providing in employment supports. In addition to the two phases jobseekers may also undertake training while with the service and this may extend the period the jobseeker is supported through the service for up to a further 6 months. The duration of the client journey therefore necessitates the requirement of a cohort based approach to reporting and the updating of individual cohort outcome data over time.
In regard to individual clients returning to claim social welfare payments having previously taken up employment through the JobPath service, my Department does not collate and process such specific data and the information requested is currently unavailable.
The Department is currently undertaking an econometric review of this strand of its activation services. Completion of this review is provisionally scheduled for the end of 2018, following which more detailed and robust statistics will be available.
Feedback on the JobPath service has been very positive; the Department recently published the results of the 2017 Customer Satisfaction Survey. While the results of the 2016 survey revealed high levels of customer satisfaction, the 2017 survey has shown an improvement across all aspects of the service, including an improvement between 2016 and 2017 for the overall satisfaction with the service.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
