Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
666. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons with a disability who have engaged with the EmployAbility service since its introduction; the number of persons who have gained employment through the scheme since its introduction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50431/18]
View answerThe Public Employment Service (PES) is managed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) and is delivered by its Intreo service and by companies under contract delivering a range of services such as the EmployAbility, Local Employment (LES), Jobpath and Job Club services.
The nationwide EmployAbility Service provides an employment support service for people with a health condition, injury, illness or disability and a recruitment advice service for the business community. The service is delivered on behalf of the Department by 23 companies. The Department funds the delivery of the service, on a cost incurred basis.
The EmployAbility service transferred from FÁS into DEASP in 2012 and a review of the service by Indecon was published in 2016. The Indecon report set out recommendations for the Service both at a strategic and operational level. The Department is working with the service providers to implement these recommendations. The Indecon review is available on the department’s website at: https://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/IndeconEvaluationofEmployAbility.pdf
The data request are presented in tabular format.
Table 1: Expenditure(1) on the EmployAbility Service
|
Year |
EmployAbility €million |
|
2012 |
€8.10 |
|
2013 |
€8.71 |
|
2014 |
€8.43 |
|
2015 |
€8.66 |
|
2016 |
€8.56 |
|
2017 |
€8.72 |
|
2018 |
€8.05 (to November) |
Table 2: EmployAbility: Number of participants (end of year)
|
Year |
EmployAbility |
|
2012 |
2,762 |
|
2013 |
2,862 |
|
2014 |
2,936 |
|
2015 |
3,000 |
|
2016 |
3,095 |
|
2017 |
2,994 |
|
2018 |
3,128 (at end of October) |
Note: 2012 to 2014 data taken from Indecon review of the EmployAbility Service. The 2015 figure is estimated. Information from 2016 onward collated by DEASP from data provided by the companies delivering the EmployAbility service. The EmployAbility service has been designed to provide intensive supports for people with disabilities. As such, the target caseload of the Job coaches employed by the companies is circa 25:1.
Table 3: EmployAbility: Number of exits into employment (end of year)
|
Year |
Total placements in employment (defined as a minimum of eight [8] hours per week) |
|
2012 |
631 |
|
2013 |
686 |
|
2014 |
891 |
|
2015 |
N/A |
|
2016 |
920 |
|
2017 |
1,027 |
|
2018 |
888 (to end September) |
Note: 2012 to 2014 data taken from Indecon review of the EmployAbility Service. The 2015 figure is not available. Information from 2016 onward collated by DEASP from data provided by the companies delivering the EmployAbility service.
