Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
702. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has undertaken research on the barriers people on disability payments face with finding and entering employment and the supports they need to overcome these barriers. [47284/23]
View answerMy Department provides a range of income and employment supports to people with disabilities. These supports remain under review by my Department, as we look to national and international best practice to improve them.
As part of our commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy, my Department carried out a review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and Disability Awareness Support Scheme.
The Reasonable Accommodation Fund includes four grants which were designed to assist jobseekers and existing employees with disabilities, and to encourage employers in the private sector to recruit Jobseekers with disabilities.
The Disability Awareness Support Scheme provides funding for private sector employers to arrange and pay for disability awareness training for staff who work with a colleague with a disability.
My Department undertook a policy review of the grants comprising of a literature and expenditure review, an international comparison, and a comprehensive public consultation, which received strong stakeholder engagement.
The review was published in August 2023. It recommends combining the grants, simplifying the application process, and extending eligibility and funding. Under Budget 2023, I allocated an additional €1 million to expand the scheme and implement these recommendations. The new, single scheme is expected to launch in early 2024.
My Department is also reviewing the Wage Subsidy Scheme, as part of our commitments under the Programme for Government to fine-tune and expand the scheme. The Wage Subsidy Scheme offers financial incentives to private sector employers to employ people with disabilities.
My Department is currently undertaking extensive research to deliver a focused policy review of this scheme, including a four-week public consultation in June 2023. I expect to receive the completed report early in 2024.
Budget 2024 provided for the minimum weekly hours threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme to be reduced from 21 to 15 hours per week which takes effect from April 2024.
The Green Paper on Disability Reform is my Department’s response to our commitment under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and to simplify the system.
The Green Paper is a consultation document we developed to start a structured discussion with disabled people and stakeholder groups on what the future of long-term disability payments and employment supports could look like. It is not a final reform design. The consultation is open until the 15th December and I encourage all disabled people and their representative groups to give us their feedback on the proposals in the Green Paper.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
