Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
749. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Social Protection whether her Department has conducted any research into the social and structural barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing employment; and whether this research fed into the construction of the green paper on disability allowance. [48206/23]
View answerMy department provides a range of income and employment supports for 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 provides financial supports to jobseekers and employees with a disability and their employers to make workplaces accessible. The Disability Awareness Support Scheme provides a contribution towards the cost of disability awareness training for private sector employers.
My department undertook a focused policy review 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 two schemes, simplifying the application process, and extending scheme 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 currently reviewing the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS), which included a four-week public consultation in June 2023 that received over 1,000 submissions. The WSS offers financial incentives to private sector employers to employ people with disabilities.
I expect to receive the completed report of the review over the coming months. Under Budget 2024, I allocated an additional €3.7 million to expand the scheme by reducing the minimum required hours from 21 to 15 hours. Research shows that lowering the minimum required hours will make the scheme more accessible by allowing for more flexible jobs. Administrative and IT work is underway to implement this change by April 2024. Any further revisions to the scheme will be carried out in the context of the recommendations contained in the report.
My officials review relevant international and national research into the barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing employment on an ongoing basis. An extensive literature review was carried out in advance of preparing the proposals in the Green Paper on Disability Reform.
The Green Paper’s key proposal is to introduce a new tiered disability payment with associated employment supports.
This proposal takes into consideration the recommendations of Indecon’s Cost of Disability report, commissioned by this department. The report found that there is no single, typical cost of disability. Rather, income supports should be differentiated by need and government policy should facilitate employment among those who can work.
The proposed tiered system would work in tandem with my department’s employment supports to ensure that those who can and want to work can reach their employment ambitions.
I would like to emphasise that the Green Paper is not a final design. It is only a starting point for discussion on the future of long-term disability payments.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
