Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020
837. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of penalties that have been applied to jobseeker's rates for non-engagement with JobPath since it was established. [20075/20]
View answerPenalty rates were introduced in 2011 as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and to co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, and this includes implementing sanctions for failure to engage where appropriate.
All jobseekers are required to engage with my Department’s activation service and this obligation applies irrespective of whether the service is provided by my Department’s own Case Officers, or those contracted through the Local Employment Service (LES), or by the JobPath providers. However contracted providers cannot and do not apply penalty rates but are obliged to report the facts and circumstances of a case to a Deciding Officer of my Department, who on careful consideration, may apply a penalty rate, where appropriate.
As of the end of January 2020, there were 59,964 clients engaged with JobPath of whom 430, or 0.7%, had a penalty rate applied to their claim. This figure is consistent with the overall level of penalty rates applied to Jobseekers in activation.
In total, since the JobPath service commenced, 17,998 or 6.9%, of the 259,275 clients who had engaged with the JobPath service (up to the end of January 2020) have had, at some point during their engagement period, a penalty rate applied to their payment.
Due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, the application of penalty rates has been suspended since March 2020.
