Employment services for people with disabilities are currently provided by 23 EmployAbility service providers across the State on behalf on my Department. My officials are preparing a procurement process to update current EmployAbility service contracts in order to comply with legal advice from the Attorney General and Chief State Solicitor’s Office and to meet the Department’s objective of shifting emphasis from financial monitoring of Service Providers to focusing on service quality for clients.
It is not the intention of this procurement to significantly change the nature of the services currently provided to clients, reflecting the overall effectiveness of the current service. Independent reviews undertaken of the service provision found that they were broadly satisfactory.
The proposed new EmployAbility contract model aims to enhance the autonomy of the service providers giving them control over financial and staffing decisions to enable them to more effectively provide a high-quality employment service for people with disabilities.
Stakeholder engagement is a key aspect of this procurement and my officials have met with each EmployAbility service provider in recent months to discuss the planned procurement process. This engagement will continue until the publication of the request for tender, planned for later this year.
It is in everyone’s interests that my Department continues to provide a quality employment service for people with disabilities and they will continue to work with all stakeholders on the best way to achieve this while ensuring contracts are legally compliant.
The 23 EmployAbility Service Providers currently employ approximately 165 staff, of whom some 122 are job coaches. The service has an active caseload nationally at any one time of about 3,000 clients (or an equivalent turnover of circa 2,000 clients per year). The specific information requested by the Deputy is not readily available. In 2023, the total contract value of the 23 EmployAbility service providers is €10.9 million.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the deputy.
