Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
115. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on the review of the reasonable accommodation fund; the timeframe for the completion and publication of the review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32743/23]
View answerI am looking for an update on the review of the reasonable accommodation fund and a timeline for the completion and publication of the review.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, as well as their employers. I am committed to improving targeted employment supports where disabled people are facing additional challenges accessing work.
The reasonable accommodation fund is one of these supports which aims to support the employment of disabled people by providing financial support to help make workplaces more accessible. Under the comprehensive employment strategy, my Department committed to undertake a review of the reasonable accommodation fund grants. My Department is also reviewing the disability awareness support scheme at the same time given that scheme's similar target audience. The reasonable accommodation fund grants and the disability awareness support scheme are both demand-led schemes that have shown consistently low take-up. The reasonable accommodation fund typically has expenditure of around €100,000 per annum, helping fewer than 100 claimants, while the disability awareness support scheme expenditure is only around €11,000 per annum.
It is important that we review these schemes as it clear that take-up of these grants is very low. I want to see them used more widely and more effectively. The aim of the review is to improve the effectiveness of the supports to employees and employers, identify gaps in provision and improve the application and payment processes. I expect to publish the review of both grants in the coming weeks. In budget 2023, I announced an additional €1 million for improvements to the reasonable accommodation fund scheme, which will be informed by the recommendations in the forthcoming review.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
I thank the Minister for that clarity. I welcome the review because, as the Minister said, the take-up of these schemes is extremely low. That is very upsetting. Ireland's level of employment is very high yet the employment rate for disabled people is one of the lowest in Europe. We rank lowest, with Greece, at 32.6%. Greece's overall employment rate is not anything like Ireland's so that means we are actually the worst in Europe for the employment of disabled people. We have the largest disability employment gap in Europe. The employment rate here for disabled people is 38.6% lower than for people without disabilities. I am just wondering if people are aware of the schemes or if employers are aware of them and how they work. Correct me if I am wrong but I think the take-up of the employee retention grant was zero. We need to look at this and see if there is still a stigma attached to employing people with disabilities and if there is enough awareness among employers of the supports that are there to encourage them to ask disabled people to take up employment with them.
I thank the Deputy for raising this because that is what I want to do. I want to get more people to know about it. I want more employers to take it up and I want more employees to benefit from it. The money is there. We have published a consultation, as I said, on the reasonable accommodation fund. We want more people to use it. There has been a very good response so far. If I need to make some changes to it, I will make them because I genuinely want to see more people with disabilities having the opportunity to go back to work. I want to remove those barriers and help them take up employment. Perhaps it could be part-time and maybe as their confidence grows, they can work longer if it suits them. We have the wage subsidy scheme for employers as well. I launched a consultation on that a week ago and we have already received 700 responses. People are engaged. There are good suggestions coming through and I am happy to take those on board. If the Deputy has any suggestions on how we can improve things, I am happy to hear those as well because we want to help people with disabilities get back into the workplace.
The Minister mentioned disabled people working part time. A lot of people are working part time but they are often in low-paid work as well. One of the things that comes through regularly at the Joint Committee on Disability Matters is people's fear of a loss of income and secondary supports if they take up employment. The secondary supports mentioned in particular are the medical card and the free travel pass. I know they can retain them for a number of years but they need them long term. A lot of disabled people have many medical conditions so they need the medical card and they cannot afford to pay for medical costs even after a number of years of employment.
The cost of disability report commissioned by the Department identified huge costs for disabled people. It found that 38.1% of disabled people in this country are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which is higher than anywhere else in western Europe.
All of these things need to be taken into account and all of the supports looked at.
The Indecon cost of disability report, among other strategies and commitments, is feeding into the preparation of a straw man reform proposal on disability payments. Work on the straw man is at an advanced stage. All stakeholders and members of the public will be invited to make submissions on some of the straw man proposals. We are looking at a complete overhaul of the disability allowance payment. The Deputy and I will both accept there are people with severe disabilities which prevent them from going to work while others have mild disabilities who may be able to get back and do some work. We will look at how we can distribute those payments more fairly. There is a big difference between somebody with a mild disability on €220 and somebody with a profound disability on €220. I will be publishing the straw man and look forward to hearing suggestions on it. There is a big focus on it all and we will continue to work to improve the situation of people on disability payments.
