The back-to-work allowance scheme is part of the department's employment support programmes designed to assist and encourage the long term unemployed, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force. These allowances are designed to provide a monetary incentive for people who are long term dependant on social welfare payments to make the return to work financially attractive and viable.
There are two strands to the scheme, the back-to-work allowance (BTWA) for persons who take up employment and the back-to-work enterprise allowance (BTWEA) for persons who become self-employed. Participants receive a tapered percentage of their social welfare payment over a three year period for employees and a four year period for those who become self-employed. Participants may also retain entitlement to certain other secondary benefits.
To qualify for this allowance the application must be submitted in advance and the person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment for a specific length of time immediately prior to commencing employment. In the case of jobseeker's allowance or benefit, the minimum period is two years. The requirement to be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for a minimum period has always been a feature of the scheme in order to target the scheme at the most disadvantaged. People who have been unemployed for a very short time are not the main focus of the scheme.
The Department will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the back-to-work scheme to ensure that it continues to assist those furthest from the labour market. However, I believe that the current provisions are adequate and I have no plans at present to modify the scheme.