Written Answers Nos. 542-558
542. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Social Protection the details of all applications made by her Department to the Oireachtas business committee to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of primary and secondary legislation sponsored or initiated by her Department from 1 January 2017 to date; the outcomes of such applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37902/20]
View answerThe Government approved an expansion and reinforcement of the arrangements for pre-legislative scrutiny in September 2013. A number of new Standing Orders were adopted by the Dáil on 17 October 2013 in order to underpin these new arrangements and these Standing Orders came into effect on 5 November 2013.
In order to clarify the operation of these new Standing Orders, an Agreed Protocol for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Heads of Bills by Oireachtas Committees was published in September 2014. This protocol provides that certain Bills are exempted from the requirements for pre-legislative scrutiny, including Bills which are required to implement Budget changes such as the Finance Bill, Social Welfare Bills and “emergency” Bills.
My Department has made two applications to the Oireachtas Business Committee to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of primary legislation since 1 January 2017. The details of each application are below.
In April 2019, Minister Doherty applied to the Oireachtas Business Committee to grant approval for a waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny for the publication of the Civil Registration Bill 2019. This Bill included some important provisions related, in particular, to the difficulties being experienced by parents of children born by way of donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR). The Business Committee granted a waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny, in part because a number of the provisions of this Bill had already been drafted as part of the Social Welfare Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 and had already undergone pre-legislative scrutiny in May 2017. Other provisions, including those relating to DAHR birth registrations, had been drafted following Government approval and were to be included as Committee Stage amendments in the Social Welfare Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017. The DAHR provisions were technical amendments to correct errors in existing legislation and were not seeking to implement a new policy proposal. The Business Committee were asked to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on the basis that many members of the Oireachtas had called for the early and urgent introduction of these provisions to address the deficiencies identified.
In July 2020, I applied to the Oireachtas Business Committee to grant approval for a waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny for the publication of the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020. This Bill provided for the placing of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment on a discrete, statutory footing as well as allowing for the attribution of paid social insurance contributions to people in receipt of this payment and jobseeker payments and to employees availing of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. It also allowed for a certain apportionment of the cost of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment to be charged to the Social Insurance Fund. The Business Committee granted a waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny in this case due to the emergency nature of the Bill.
The other Bills which have been initiated by my Department since January 2017 fall into the categories of Bills exempted under the agreed protocol from the requirements for pre-legislative scrutiny or they underwent pre-legislative scrutiny or the relevant Committee did not deem pre-legislative scrutiny necessary.
543. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Social Protection the grade at which the chief data protection officer in her Department is employed. [37922/20]
View answerThe Chief Data Protection Officer in my Department is employed at the Principal Officer grade.
544. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection when an application by a solicitor (details supplied) for clearance to take out probate, and pay out the beneficiaries of a will, will be provided; the reason for the delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37943/20]
View answerState Pension (non-contributory) (SPNC) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a State pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. Recipients of SPNC are obliged to notify the Department of any changes in their circumstances that may affect their pension entitlement. A list of the reportable changes of circumstance is included in the initial notification of pension award and in all subsequent review communications from my Department.
Social welfare legislation provides that the Personal Representative of a deceased person who, at any time, received a means-tested payment, is obliged to give notice to my Department of their intention to distribute the deceased's estate, to provide a schedule of the assets of the estate and is requested not to distribute the estate until they receive formal clearance from my Department. If, on examination of the schedule of assets, it is found that not all of the deceased’s means had been disclosed, or if the values of previously assessed means have changed, my Department will seek to recover any monies overpaid from the estate.
The deceased person concerned was in receipt of a SPNC. A schedule of the assets of the estate was received by my Department on 3 September 2020. The case has been referred for investigation to a Social Welfare Inspector, who has written to the Personal Representative of the deceased requesting additional information. When this information is provided, the Inspector will complete their report and return it to the Deciding Officer for consideration.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
545. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have been referred to JobPath each year since it was established; the number referred for a second, third, fourth, fifth time and, if applicable, more than five times, in tabular form. [37987/20]
View answer547. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have had employment sourced for them through JobPath; and the number whose employment was sustained for 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks, respectively. [37989/20]
View answer549. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of times JobPath providers have reported jobseekers to her Department for non-engagement with the scheme since it was established. [37992/20]
View answer550. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of penalties that have been applied to jobseekers' rates for non-engagement with JobPath since it was established. [37993/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 545, 547, 549 and 550 together.
Internationally, and in Ireland, research consistently indicates that the provision of a personal advisory/case management service to unemployed jobseekers is an effective method of supporting jobseekers to secure and sustain employment.
In Ireland, this personal advisor/case management service is provided directly by the Department's own staff and also by staff employed in contracted service providers - including the Local Employment Service (LES) and JobPath providers.
In general, the Department's own case officers engage with people who are short term unemployed while those who are more distant from the labour market, including long term unemployed people, are served by the LES and JobPath.
My Department selects clients for the JobPath service from among the cohort of long-term unemployed people by means of a stratified random selection process. Protocols for selection preclude the selection of anyone who has already completed 52 weeks with the JobPath service within the previous four months. If, however, at the end of this period the jobseeker has not engaged in other activation supports and services they then become eligible for selection for further referral to a JobPath case officer/personal advisor.
Jobseekers referred for a subsequent period of engagement will start working with a Personal Advisor, who will review their development during their previous engagements with the service and together they will prepare a new personal progression plan to build on that progress. The actions and tasks agreed will be based on their previous engagements, with particular focus on addressing any barriers that may be identified as blocking the person from moving into full-time suitable employment.
I have recently instructed my officials to ensure that no new clients should serve more than two complete engagements with JobPath and practical arrangements are currently being put in place to ensure that this is the case.
The Department uses the measure of completion of engagements with JobPath as a more accurate metric as opposed to referrals, as customers can be referred on a number of occasions without actually engaging with the service. The reasons for this can typically be a change of circumstance between referral and engagement (e.g. a person may find employment before they start their engagement period with JobPath or they may transfer to another welfare scheme). To date 133,574 clients have completed one full engagement with JobPath, 33,256 clients have completed two full engagements with the JobPath service and 1,325 people have completed a third engagement period. This information has been summarised in Table 2.
JobPath provides a case management based employment advice and counselling service to long term unemployed jobseekers which aids jobseekers in finding employment. As part of this process, JobPath in common with other contracted providers such as the LES and indeed the Department's own Intreo staff, may identify suitable job opportunities and refer jobseekers to these job opportunities. Equally, the jobseeker may, during the period of engagement, identify their own opportunities. This would also be case in respect of engagements with the LES or the Department's own staff.
Between July 2015 and October 2020, some 283,826 jobseekers had commenced their engagement period with the JobPath service. These engagements are set out in Table 1.
In the same period, 64,632 jobseekers had commenced employment during their engagement period with JobPath. Of these, 40,876 have sustained employment for 13 weeks, 32,811 have sustained employment for 26 weeks, 26,992 have sustained employment for 39 weeks and 22,581 continued to be employed after twelve months.
It should be noted that many clients who are currently engaged with JobPath are still in the first phase of the service. They have not yet had sufficient time with the service to have gained employment nor sustain that employment for up to 52 weeks. The measure of performance will improve as more clients complete their engagement with the service and have a chance to reach 52 weeks in employment. In addition, employment progression rates need to be compared with the 'counterfactual' of what would have happened if a person did not avail of the of the JobPath service. For this reason, I would refer the Deputy to the econcometric evaluation of the service published on the Department's website at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/0939ba-working-paper-evaluation-of-jobpath-outcomes-for-q1-2016-participant/. This indicates that employment/earnings outcomes for people who engaged with JobPath are 37% improved compared to control groups who did not engage with the service. The Department will continue to monitor this performance and will, in addition, commission studies of other employment advisory services, including the LES, over the next 12 months.
JobPath providers do not apply, nor do they recommend the application of, a penalty rate of payment. Their role is to simply advise the Department if a jobseeker has failed to attend activation meetings. The application of penalty rates is entirely a matter for Departmental staff.
The legislation underpinning the application of reduced rates of payment was provided for in the Social Welfare Act 2010. All decisions on the application of reduced rates of payment are made by officials from my Department and the circumstances of each case are taken into account prior to a decision being made.
Due to the on going economic impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic penalty rates have not been applied to payments since March 2020. Of those who were engaged with JobPath in February, 430 people or 0.7% had a reduced rate applied to their claim. This figure is consistent with the overall level of reduced rates applied across all Jobseekers. It should be pointed out that several factors may be considered in applying penalty rates and it is not possible to state in which instances the sole context may have been non-engagement with JobPath.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Table 1:
JobPath Engagements (PPP agreed) by year (as of end October 2020)
|
Referral Year |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
End Oct 2020 |
Total |
|
Total Engagements |
6,588 |
65,452 |
74,860 |
60,817 |
50,341 |
25,768 |
283,826 |
Table 2:
JobPath clients with Multiple completed engagements (as of end October 2020)
|
Number of Jobseekers who have completed at least one full engagement with JobPath |
168,155 |
|
Of which have completed One Full Engagement only |
133,574 |
|
Of which have completed Two Full Engagements |
33,256 |
|
Of which have completed Three Full Engagements |
1,325 |
546. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount paid to JobPath providers since it was established; and the amount of referral and sustainment fees. [37988/20]
View answer548. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection if there is engagement with JobPath providers on the number of persons who source employment but do not sustain it beyond 13 or 26 weeks. [37991/20]
View answer551. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the oversight her Department has had of JobPath providers; and the number of notified and unannounced inspections that have been carried out. [37994/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 546, 548 and 551 together.
JobPath companies are paid on the basis of performance and,with the exception of the initial registration fee, payments are made only when a client has achieved sustained employment. The overall cost of JobPath will be determined by the number of people who participate in the programme and the number who get sustainable jobs.
The total paid to the JobPath providers and up to October 2020 is €247.9m
This total breaks down as follows: -
Referral Fees: €99.9m
Job Sustainment Fees: €148m
The focus of the JobPath Service is to provide intensive support to people, who are experiencing long-term unemployment or who are at risk of becoming long-term unemployed, to secure and sustain full-time employment. This is achieved by working with the client to identify and provide intensive support to overcome barriers to employment.
The period of engagement with the service is 52 weeks, and during that time, the jobseeker avails of intensive support from a dedicated Personal Advisor (PA). If the jobseeker is successful in finding employment, the support of the PA continues for the remaining duration of the person’s engagement with the service and for a period of at least six and up to twelve months thereafter.
If the jobseeker obtains employment but it is not sustained beyond 13 or 26 weeks, the engagement with the PA will resume. The employment experience will be reviewed to build on progress, and to identify measures to sustain employment. This may entail referral to training, education or other interventions appropriate to sustaining employment.
The overall performance of the contractors in assisting persons in gaining and sustaining employment is under continual review including the numbers who sustain employment for 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks. My Department meets regularly with the contractors to review all aspects of the contract delivery including performance.
Inspections are one of a number of key performance monitoring features, which enable my Department to oversee all aspects of the JobPath providers’ performance and ensure contract compliance.
As at end of October 2020, a total of 117 inspections have been carried out at JobPath service delivery locations; 72 have been notified and 45 were un-notified.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
553. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Social Protection the rationale for issuing persons in receipt of a qualified adult payment to their old age pension a means test letter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38005/20]
View answerAn Increase for qualified adult (IQA) is a means tested payment, payable to State pension (contributory) (and other contributory scheme) claimants whose spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is being wholly or mainly maintained by them, and where that qualified adult’s personal means from any source does not exceed a means test income limit. Currently there are 58,236 beneficiaries of this payment in the State pension (contributory) scheme.
As part of my Department’s commitment to ensuring that claimants are receiving their full and correct entitlements, ongoing reviews of means tested payments are carried out.
The primary State pension (contributory) claimant is contacted to notify them that their continuing entitlement to the means-tested IQA payment is being examined. In this context, details of the means of their qualified adult is requested. These review letters have been approved by the National Adult Literacy Association.
Where a qualified adult has weekly means of less than €100, the maximum rate of IQA is payable. Where their weekly means is between €100 and €310, a reduced rate of IQA is payable. If the qualified adult has means of more than €310 per week, this exceeds the means limit and no IQA payment is due. For claimants of contributory pension, only the means of the qualified adult are taken into account. In the case of joint bank accounts, or joint ownership of land or property (apart from the family home), half the value or amount is assessed as means for the qualified adult.
It is open to claimants to contact my Department regarding the return of the requested information. Flexibility can be provided if there is difficulty in replying within the requested timeframe.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
554. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection when an application by a person (details supplied) for PPS numbers will be processed; the reason for the delay in processing the application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38016/20]
View answerI can confirm that my Department has allocated Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSNs) to the individuals referred to by the Deputy. Letters issued on 17th and 23rd November 2020 with details of the PPSNs.
The SAFE registration process, which involves the authentication of a person's identity in a face-to-face interview, is the normal method of processing an application for a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN).
At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, my Department temporarily suspended the SAFE registration process. This decision was taken in order to comply with HSE and World Health Organisation guidelines in respect of social distancing.
My Department did not, however, suspend PPSN allocations. To help ensure that those who required a PPSN could get one, my Department introduced an email and postal service through which applications could be made.
It is inevitably the case that a temporary process such as this will not be as efficient as the face-to-face process it has temporarily replaced, neither for applicants nor for the staff dealing with those applications. Additional resources have been assigned to this work and I expect this will result in improved processing times and a reduction in the number of applications on hand.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
555. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of tribunals, inquiries or investigations being undertaken currently by her Department; the number that are in the process of being set up; the number for which the terms of reference are not complete or not agreed; the cost of all to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38048/20]
View answerThere is one statutory tribunal under the aegis of my Department.
The Social Welfare Tribunal was set up in 1982 to deal with cases where entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance is refused due to an involvement in a trade dispute. The legislation governing the operation of the Social Welfare Tribunal is provided for in Sections 331 to 333 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005. The last sitting of the Tribunal was in October 2014.
556. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if the outstanding amount in arrears of the pandemic unemployment payment will issue to recipients of the payment; the number of persons who are waiting on arrears of the payment; the reason for the outstanding arrears; and the steps she is taking to have the payments made in a timely manner. [38058/20]
View answer580. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the payment of arrears to persons who are or were in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment. [38559/20]
View answer592. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department will expedite the process of arrears payments for pandemic unemployment payment recipients, which is currently planned for the end of the year, to early to mid-December to help alleviate some of the stress and burden of the cost of Christmas. [38871/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 556, 580 and 592 together.
Since the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme in March, approximately 815,000 people have applied for payment and in some cases, they have done so on a number of occasions as they moved in and out of employment or where their employer availed of the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. Consequently, there are over 1.4 million applications to be examined to determine if arrears are due. To date, over 13 million individual payments have issued over a 36 week period.
Arrears in respect of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will arise under two broad headings. Firstly, there may have been an initial time lag in the commencement of payments. During the month of March, my Department received and processed jobseeker claims equivalent in number to a three year claim-load. Almost 59,000 people were paid in the first week of the scheme, increasing to 283,000 people in the following week and over 507,000 people in the third week of the scheme. The focus was on putting claims into payment as quickly as possible was and it was not possible to generate arrears payments at the time. Secondly, arrears may also arise in respect of individual weeks where claims could not be processed due to incomplete applications or data mismatches.
My Department is keenly aware that many people are due some arrears and that every case will be different. In order to address an issue of this scale, my Department has developed an automated process, which will examine each case and look at their overall entitlement to payment and match this against their payment history. The work involved is complex as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment system itself evolved from a manual applications system to one where applications were submitted online and paid over two different payment platforms (one from March to July and the second from July to date). Final testing and implementation of the automated process is currently underway with a view to issuing payments before the end of the year and as soon as possible.
I hope that this clarifies matters for the Deputies.
557. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Social Protection when a decision will be made in relation to an application by workers of a company (details supplied) for a casual-docket jobseeker's payment while they were in receipt of temporary wage subsidy scheme support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38064/20]
View answerThe priority for my Department up to now has been to ensure that payments are being made currently to workers of a company (details supplied). To date over 3,200 claims have been put into payment in respect of employees who have applied for a jobseeker's payment. This work is now complete and work commenced last week on applications in respect of the period pre-September when the Temporary Wage Subsidy scheme was in payment. Each individual claim is being assessed on an individual basis for each employee involving a detailed examination of the specific work patterns and remuneration arrangements in place.
Entitlement to a casual jobseeker's or short-time work support payment for any day during that period depends, among other things, on whether or not a person received remuneration from their employer for that day. Each case needs to be examined individually to determine if the remuneration paid by the company concerned was in respect of a complete period or only specific days within a period. This will determine if a person may be entitled to a casual jobseeker's payment in respect of the days on which a person did not work.
A process has been agreed with the company that any outstanding information required to finalise decisions on social welfare entitlements will be provided by the company to their employees as quickly as possible.
However, because of the volume and complexity of claims involved and the need to go back to individual claimants, the process will take some time.
Once a decision is made on a particular claim, the Department will notify that claimant of the outcome and it will be open to any person who is not satisfied with this decision to seek a review or to appeal that decision to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
558. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection if an exceptional needs payment will issue in the case of persons (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38096/20]
View answerAccording to the records in my Department, the first person concerned is currently in receipt of an Illness Benefit payment of €409.70 per week which was awarded on 10/09/2020. There is no recent record of an application for an Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) from the persons concerned in my Department.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department can make a single ENP to help meet essential, once-off expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. There is no automatic entitlement to these payments which are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case, in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.
If the persons concerned are experiencing financial difficulties they can contact their local Community Welfare Service (CWS) in Maynooth where their circumstances will be assessed. This service can be contacted by phone at (01) 6106143 or by email at cwsmaynoothleixlip@welfare.ie.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
