I am aware of the recent statements by the INOU regarding unemployment levels. In this regard, the Government remains committed to the goal contained in the national anti-poverty strategy of eliminating long-term unemployment by 2007. The social and economic policies pursued by this Government since 1997 have yielded dramatic results both in increasing the numbers of persons in employment and in reducing the numbers unemployed. During that period, the unemployment rate has fallen from 10.3% to 4.4% while the long-term unemployment rate has fallen from 5.6% to 1.6%.
It is important that social security programmes are developed in ways that are responsive to the needs of the unemployed and other disadvantaged groups while simultaneously providing opportunities to assist people to become less welfare dependent. In this context, a number of measures have been introduced to social security schemes to make them more employment friendly by removing disincentives to taking up employment. Examples of such measures for people returning to work are unemployment assistance: 40% of net earnings from part-time work is disregarded; tapered withdrawal of adult and child dependent allowances as the spouse-partner's earnings from employment increase; and retention of rent-mortgage interest supplement and other secondary benefits on a tapered basis in certain circumstances. In addition, family income supplement, FIS, is designed to provide cash support for employees on low earnings with families and thereby preserve the incentive to take up or remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if she or he were claiming other social welfare payments.
Where the changes introduced in the 2004 Estimates are concerned, the INOU is represented in the working group established under Sustaining Progress, to facilitate engagement with the social partners in relation to monitoring the impact of the recent changes to the rent supplement scheme. My Department requested the health boards to examine a sample of applications for rent supplement which were refused since last January in order to assist in the task of monitoring the impact of the changes. Of the 498 cases examined, seven were refused on the ground that the spouse-partner was in full-time employment.
The back to education allowance is a second chance education opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force. The qualifying period will be increased from six months to 15 months for new applicants intending to commence third level courses of study, with effect from September 2004. The scheme was always intended for the benefit of people, such as the long-term unemployed, who had difficulty finding employment and, for them, the scheme continues to provide an opportunity which might enable them to improve their qualifications and thus their prospects of obtaining work. It was never intended to be an alternative form of support for people entering the third level education system.
I decided to restructure the rent supplement and back to education allowance schemes in order to ensure that these supports retains their focus on the more vulnerable groups in our community particularly those who are at risk of becoming dependent on social welfare payments on a long-term basis. I want to ensure that available resources are aimed at those in greatest need of an intervention to prevent them from drifting into long-term unemployment and in assisting those already unemployed in the transition to work.
