Sorca Clarke
Question:90. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider extending the time allowed on community employment for those aged over 50 years. [50730/22]
View answerThursday, 13 October 2022
Questions (90)
Written answers
The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and long-term unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their local communities. The programme aims to improve a person’s opportunities to return to the labour market.
Generally CE placements, for those up to aged 60, are intended to be temporary and subject to time limits. This is to ensure the continued availability of places on CE schemes for more recent long-term unemployed candidates. Those who are unemployed and in receipt of an eligible payment for 12 months or more may be eligible to participate on CE.
In general, all CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years are for one year. However, CE participants, working towards a major educational award, can seek to extend participation by up to a further two years to enable them to reach the required qualification standards.
Those over 55 years of age can remain on CE for up to three years, while CE participants who are aged over 55 and who commenced on CE prior to the introduction of the changes in 2017 continue to be eligible to stay on CE for six consecutive years. CE participants over the age of 60 can participate on a continuous basis up to the State Pension age.
During the COVID pandemic Minister Humphreys and I extended CE participants' contracts on a number of occasions in order to support schemes, given the impact of public health restrictions on schemes, the services they provide and on participants.
Given the post COVID difficulties many schemes face in recruiting new candidates to replace the increased numbers of participants leaving CE, participants including those with extended contracts, may not be required to leave CE, where a suitable replacement has not been referred to the scheme. This is to ensure services provided to communities by schemes continue to be supported. Any extension under this provision must be approved by officials from the Department and consideration will be given to the any remaining impact of COVID on the turnover and recruitment of participants, services provided by schemes, along with recruitment and referral efforts. Approximately 900 participants have had their contracts extended on this basis since the start of April.
It remains important that CE places are available for persons who are long term unemployed to assist them return to employment in the labour market. Therefore, extensions are only approved in specific circumstances where an extension will not prevent a more recent long term unemployed person the opportunity to take up a CE opportunity to avail of work experience and training. For similar reasons, it is not proposed to change the rules applying to participants over age 50.
I am fully committed to the future of this programme and will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants in particular, given the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services.