Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 May 2021
410. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of the poverty impact assessment of reduced jobseeker rates for 18 to 24 year olds as committed to in the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act 2019; and when the assessment will be published. [27913/21]
View answerMy Department has completed a Poverty Impact Assessment on the reduced rates of jobseekers for young people, which I am currently considering.
Given the impact of the pandemic on employment, one of my priorities is to assist people, including young people, in getting back to work as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Under the July Jobs Stimulus, my Department, along with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, is:
- Expanding the caseload capacity of Intreo Centres, with the assignment of 100 job coaches to provide enhanced employment services and supports;
- Increasing the benefit of the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy to employers who hire young people. Under this scheme an employer receives the JobsPlus subsidy of €7,500 once they employ a young person (under 30 years of age) who has been unemployed for just 4 months. A higher subsidy of €10,000 is paid for recruitment of a person who was long term unemployed (over 12 months);
- Providing access to additional full-time and part-time education, including targeted short-term courses, with over 35,000 new education and training places for those currently unemployed;
- Providing incentives to employers to take on more apprentices, with the provision of a grant of €3,000 to employers for each new apprentice recruited;
- Facilitating access to the Back to Education Allowance and Back to Work Enterprise Allowance to those displaced by the pandemic and in receipt of PUP, by waiving the usual qualifying period of 3-9 months.
With regard to apprenticeships, the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 was launched last month by my colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Action Plan sets out a five-year strategy to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment of reaching 10,000 new apprentice registrations per year by 2025. The plan provides a roadmap to a single apprenticeship system and new supports for employers and apprentices, which will prove attractive for many young people.
My Department is at an advanced stage in developing a new Work Placement Experience Programme for those out of work for at least six months, regardless of age. This programme will seek to encourage businesses provide jobseekers with the necessary workplace skills to compete in the labour market and to help break the vicious circle of “no job without experience, no experience without a job.” The programme aims to particularly incentivise the participation of young people through an attractive weekly uplift to their weekly welfare entitlement. It is anticipated that those currently on the Youth Employment Support Scheme will be permitted to transfer across to the new programme providing the participant and host are both agreeable. I expect to bring the Programme to government shortly for consideration and anticipate a launch of the programme shortly thereafter.
These initiatives will be further strengthened by Pathways to Work 2021-2025, which is currently being finalised by my Department. Pathways to Work is the Government’s national employment services strategy. It will set out how an expanded Public Employment Service will utilise its existing and expanded capacity to deliver effective services in a post-COVID labour market. This whole-of-Government strategy will seek to build upon those support measures outlined above as we assist young people on their journey to work.
I trust that this clarifies the position at this time for the Deputy.
