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Employment Support Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2020

Tuesday, 8 December 2020

Questions (412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

412. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number jobseekers registered with the EmployAbility programme in each of the past five years. [41881/20]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

413. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of jobseekers who exited the EmployAbility programme without having secured employment in each of the past five years. [41882/20]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

414. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of jobseekers who exited the EmployAbility programme after 18 months or more without having secured employment in each of the past five years. [41883/20]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

415. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of the total jobseekers with EmployAbility currently in employment having secured employment through the programme under the wage subsidy scheme. [41884/20]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

416. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of jobseekers registered with EmployAbility who secured employment of less than ten hours per week and between ten and 20 hours per week, respectively, through the programme in each of the past five years. [41885/20]

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Peadar Tóibín

Question:

417. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has conducted research to determine the percentage of jobseekers who had gained employment through EmployAbility that were still in employment six months or more after exiting the programme. [41886/20]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 to 417, inclusive, together.

The Employability Service provides support and advice to people with disabilities with a view to them securing employment.  

The number of customers referred by my Department to the EmployAbility Services in each of the past five years is as follows:

2016 

 2017

 2018

 2019

 2020

 2957

 2835

 3114

 3242

 1264*

 *reduced numbers due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The below table depicts the number of individuals that exited the programme without having secured employment in each of the past five years is as follows:

2016 

 2017

 2018

 2019

 2020

2029

1026

1597

1431

826 

The numbers of clients who exited the service following the completion of 18 months into other relevant non-open market employment outcomes for the last 5 years as follows: 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019  

2020 

 n/a*

155 

127 

108

121 

*this data is not available for 2016.

My Department provides a range of services to support the employment of people with disabilities.  One such service available is the Wage Subsidy Scheme.  This scheme provides financial assistance for private sector employers to encourage them to employ people with disabilities.

Of the total number of Employability Service clients who secured open market employment in 2020, approximately 39% were employed by employers availing of the Wage Subsidy Scheme.

It is intended that the majority of EmployAbility clients will have working hours that are the norm within that industry or sector.  It is a service requirement that they will be working towards a minimum of 8 hours a week.

The EmployAbility Service started to record the categories of part-time and full-time work from 2017.  Previously all job placements were counted as employments.  Part-time work is defined as less than 20 hours and full-work is defined as greater than 20 hours.

 -

2017 

2018 

2019 

2020

 part-time

 447

 544

 405

 178

 full-time

 530

 570

 787

 377

My Department commissioned a major review of the Employability Service in 2016.  The Indecon Report stated that just over 25% of clients retained employment after 6 months without the support of the service.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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