Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
765. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of an extra 1,000 places on the wage subsidy scheme, and 1,000 additional places on the employability scheme respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36782/23]
View answerThe Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities and thereby increase the numbers of people with disabilities obtaining and sustaining employment in the open labour market. The scheme provides financial incentives to private sector employers to hire people with a disability for between 21 and 39 subsidised hours per week under a contract of employment.
The basic rate of subsidy is €6.30 per hour giving a total annual subsidy available of €12,776 per annum based on a 39-hour week. The financial supports for employers are structured under three separate strands and companies could benefit under one strand or under two or three strands simultaneously depending on the number of people with a disability employed, as below:
• Strand I subsidy is payable for up to two employees at a rate of €6.30 per hour.
• Strand II subsidy is payable for three or more employees. This is a top-up payment based on the overall number of employees with a disability employed under Strand I. It ranges from an additional 10% of wage subsidy for 3 to 6 employees with a disability to a maximum of 50% of wage subsidy (€9.45 per hour) for 23+ employees with a disability.
• Strand III subsidy enables employers who employ 25 or more workers with a disability on the Wage Subsidy Scheme to be eligible for a grant of up to €30,000 per year towards the expense of employing an Employment Assistance Officer to support these employees.
There are currently 1,507 employers availing of the subsidy in respect of some 2,415 participant employees. The estimated expenditure on the scheme in 2023 is approximately €24 million.
It is important to note that the Wage Subsidy scheme is demand led and does not have a cap on the numbers of Employers/Employees that can avail of its support.
It estimated that to fund an additional 1,000 WSS employees would cost almost €13 million. The costing for additional people on the scheme is based on the average cost per month for a participant funding for Strand 1 only. The costing does not take account of:
• Potential Strand II increases. As outlined previously, Strand II is a top-up payment which is a percentage of the Strand I subsidy and is based on the overall number of employees with a disability employed under Strand I.
• Stand III increases. This cost could only be worked out if it was known how many employers would be employing 25 or more workers, i.e., the distribution of the additional 1,000 places.
The EmployAbility service providers deliver a key employment service for people with disabilities on behalf of my Department. My Department has agreed contracts with 23 EmployAbility service providers for the provision of the EmployAbility service for 2023, based on bid proposals balanced against the level of service required by the Department and the available funding. Currently, the Employability service has capacity of approximately 3000 places and the total value of the contracts for 2023 is €10.9 million. Engagement with EmployAbility is voluntary and any increase in the capacity of the service would therefore be demand-led. While a full analysis and estimation process would need to be performed to fully calculate the additional cost of providing an additional places, on a pro-rata basis the current cost for an additional 1,000 places under the current contract would be in the range €3-€3.5 million.
The Department is at an advanced stage of drafting a request for tender (RFT) to update the current EmployAbility service. The proposed new EmployAbility model aims to enhance the autonomy of the service providers to enable them to more effectively provide a high- quality supported employment service for people with disabilities. The current referral process between EmployAbility service providers and Intreo centres is being refined and the new contracts will be designed to facilitate an increase in referral numbers.
Changes to any schemes that result in an increase in overall expenditure can be only be considered in any overall budgetary and policy context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
