Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
1049. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection if a community employment placement will be extended in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1973/22]
View answerCommunity Employment (CE) Schemes are active labour market programmes providing eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary fixed term basis. Participation limits on these schemes are necessary to allow for the maximum availability of places for qualifying persons and to assist participants progress to employment in the open labour market on completion of the programme. In normal times, for persons up to a certain age, participation limits on CE range from one, three or six years depending on the age, training undertaken and circumstances of participants on CE.
During the COVID pandemic the Minister for Social Protection and I extended CE participants contracts beyond these normal time limits, on a number of occasions. These contract extensions which are in place since October 2020, supported CE schemes at various stages of the pandemic so that they could maintain important community services. These contract extensions also ensured that participants had sufficient time to fully avail of the work experience and training opportunities affected by public health restrictions. The latest contract extensions are due to start to come to an end in February 2022 and will be phased out in a co-ordinated manner over the following twelve months.
In light of the ongoing challenges faced by CE schemes and their participants, Minister Humphreys and I announced further changes to rules governing CE schemes just before the end of 2021. We reduced the age at which persons can stay on CE until they reach retirement age from 62 to 60 years of age. The upper limit on the percentage of persons that can benefit from this exemption has also been removed. Furthermore, to assist with the transition from COVID emergency supports over the next period, participants, including those with extended contracts, may not be required to leave CE, where a suitable replacement has not yet been referred to the scheme. This transitionary provision will support schemes to retain services, with the higher-than-normal turnover of participants in 2022.
At the same time, we need to retain the core CE objective as an active labour market measure for the benefit of the long term unemployed and continue to ensure that places are available for the newer cohort of long term unemployed to assist them re-enter the labour market. Therefore, time limits on participation will be retained for the majority of CE participants.
While I do not wish to comment on an individual case, the above additional flexibilities recently introduced to CE may provide some options that could be explored by the CE scheme in consultation with the local Departmental official in the case referred to by the Deputy. The Department's activation service is also available to work with CE participants nearing the end of their time on CE, to ensure that the benefits and experience received during CE are maximised. This process will help identify potential employment opportunities and offer support participants overcoming any barriers to employment.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
