Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021
1182. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the youth employment support scheme budget for 2021 including increased training allowances as provided for under the July stimulus in 2020. [20121/21]
View answerThe Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS) was introduced on 1st October 2018 and was open to applications from that date.
YESS targets at young jobseekers aged between 18 and 24 who are long-term unemployed or who face barriers to employment. The scheme aims to provide jobseekers with the opportunity to learn basic work and social skills in a supportive environment while on a work placement. The scheme provides a supportive structure for participants, including case worker support for both placement hosts and jobseekers.
Since the scheme's inception, a total of 969 people have commenced a placement, while there are currently 46 participants on the YESS. To date, a total of 792 employers have provided YESS placements.
The type of work experience undertaken by participants involved roles across a number of different sectors including - community and voluntary, hospitality and food, ICT and telecoms, manufacturing, retail, sales and marketing, science and healthcare and construction. Recruitment to the scheme in the scheme was affected by Covid-19 during 2020, with fewer participants than anticipated and an associated reduction in scheme expenditure with an estimated outturn of €1.7 million for the year.
In the July Jobs Stimulus the Government committed to a €200 million investment in training, education, skill development, work placement schemes, recruitment subsidies and jobs search and assistance measures aimed to help those who have lost their jobs find a new one, retrain or develop new skills, in particular for emerging growth sectors. Included in this is provision for a funded work placement scheme to provide work experience for jobseekers who have been unemployed for more than six months regardless of age. I intend to launch this work placement programme, once public health restrictions begin to ease further and economic activity starts to return to more normal levels.
It is anticipated that existing YESS participants will be given the option to transfer onto the new programme prior to its launch. Those who do not wish to transfer can complete their YESS scheme as usual. The budget allocations for YESS in 2021 is 2.44 million.
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
