John Ellis
Ceist:51 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to break the cycle of long-term unemployment within the next six months. [18558/96]
Written Answers. - Long-Term Unemployment.
The problem of long-term unemployment is deeply rooted in our society and will only be resolved by the sustained application of a series of targeted measures. Through its actions to date, this Government has demonstrated its absolute commitment to the development of opportunities for the long-term unemployed to share in the benefits of our economic growth and we will continue to do so.
In so far as my Department is concerned, the Deputy will be aware that a range of pro-employment measures have been introduced this year which are designed to provide incentives to the unemployed, and particularly the long-term unemployed, to re-enter the labour force.
Among the measures provided for this year are:
— An increase in the PRSI-free allowance from £50 p.w. to £80 per week together with reductions in the employer PRSI rates from 9 per cent to 8.5 per cent in the case of the lower incentive rate and from 12.2 per cent to 12 per cent in the case of the main rate;
— An increase of £10 in the income limits applied in determining entitlement to family income supplement, which means that most current recipients are getting an increase of £6 per week;
— The continued payment of increases for dependent children for up to 13 weeks to people in receipt of such increases at the full rate who have been unemployed for 12 months or more and who take up employment which is expected to last for at least four weeks;
— The reform of unemployment assistance which is designed to simplify the arrangements for claiming unemployment assistance and to make it more attractive for recipients to take-up part-time or casual work opportunities;
— An increase of 5,000 in the number of back to work allowances from 10,000 to 15,000 places during 1996. In view of the success of this scheme, the Government has recently approved a further increase of 2,000 in the number of allowances bringing the total up to 17,000.
— A further substantial increase in the monthly rates of child benefit. By channelling resources to child benefit, which is a universal payment, as opposed to child dependant allowances which are lost on taking up employment, the disincentive effects of the latter payments are greatly lessened.
— The introduction of a new one-parent family payment from January 1997. This new payment will merge the existing lone parent's allowance and deserted wife's benefit and is designed to make employment a more feasible option for lone parents.
— Improvements in the third level allowance and second chance education schemes whereby participants are allowed to retain their allowances during the summer holiday period until such time as they finish their course.
I will continue to reform the social welfare system to ensure that disincentives to employment are stripped out and that the system can operate effectively as a system of income support and, equally importantly, can provide the support necessary for people to re-enter the active labour force.