John Brady
Ceist:48. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason for the reduction in referrals to the local employment services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3061/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 24 January 2017
Ceisteanna (48)
Freagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)
In the space of a year the Minister has reduced referrals to the local employment services by 10,454. People working within the local employment services across the State are asking the Minister to explain the reason he hugely slashed referrals to those excellent services.
The Department has contracted with 22 local employment service providers for 2017, the same number as in 2016, and funding for the provision of the service has also been maintained for 2017 at the 2016 level of €20 million. We have not cut the budget for local employment services.
Local employment services form part of the State’s public employment service. This service is managed by the Department of Social Protection and delivered directly by its own Intreo service as well as by contractors, such as JobPath, the local employment service, LES, and job club providers.
Both Intreo and contractor staff provide unemployed jobseekers with advice and assistance to identify, pursue and secure employment.
Prior to the introduction of Intreo, my Department had approximately 300 case officers, including contracted LES staff, to serve more than 460,000 people on the live register. This was equivalent to a caseload of over 1,500 jobseekers per case officer as against an international best practice benchmark of 200:1.
In developing the Intreo service and introducing JobPath, the total number of case officers has increased to approximately 1,200. Combined with the welcome reduction in the number of people on the live register - from a peak of over 460,000 in July 2012 to about 275,000 today, with a reduction last year alone of just under 45,000 - the average caseload today is approximately 230:1.
The reduction in unemployment has also allowed the Department to increase the quality of case officer support to people who face the most difficult challenges in finding employment. These jobseekers are typically long-term unemployed and are dealt with either by the local employment services or by JobPath. In line with international norms, the Department is seeking to maintain the caseload for this cohort at no more than 125 clients per officer. In order to achieve this level of case officer support, the Department has reduced the number of people referred to local employment services but has asked the providers to increase the time they allocate to work with each jobseeker. This should result in reduced pressure on the local employment services and an improved level of service for clients.
In 2015, the LES saw 30,321 referrals. In 2016, it saw 19,867 referrals. Every county in the State, with one exception, experienced a reduction in referrals in the space of a year. People working in the LES are deeply concerned about the Minister's intentions for the LES and its sustainability into the future. If reductions continue at this scale, it will call into question the viability of the LES across the State. They are not my views or concerns, although I share the concerns, but the views and concerns of LES officers. The Minister said the reason for cutting the number of referrals is to provide a more intensive service to clients. That is like cutting an employee's hours from 40 to 15 hours and telling them it is to make them work a little harder and to be more productive. However, the Minister is doing nobody in the LES any favours whatsoever, nor is he giving any benefits to people who are referred to the services. What consultation has the Minister carried out with employment services throughout the State? I do not believe there has been any. I have spoken to LES officers and there has been no consultation with them. What consultation took place before the cut in the number of referrals?
This is not rocket science. The number of people who are unemployed has gone down by half. Unemployment was 15% and it is now approximately 7%, so of course the number of referrals has reduced. That is simple mathematics. There is half the number of unemployed people so obviously the number of referrals has gone down. As unemployment continues to fall, the number of referrals will continue to fall. However, we have not reduced the budget for the LES or reduced the number of case officers. The reason is that we want those who are still unemployed to get far more time and individual attention than they received previously. Moreover, they need it because the people who are still unemployed are those who are most distant from the labour market and require far more one-to-one attention. That is what we want from the local employment services. We want them to have a smaller caseload and the case officers to have fewer people on their books but to work with them longer and harder, because they are the people who need the extra support.
It is certainly not rocket science and I do not take the Minister's condescending remark lightly. However, it is interesting to see the emergence of the privatisation of this area. At the same time as the Minister has been cutting referrals to the LES across the State, more than 60,000 people have been referred to private entities in JobPath. Is the real reason behind the huge cuts in referrals to provide a private service instead of the local employment service, which has been doing exceptional work? In the Pathways to Work 2016-2020 strategy the Minister committed to undertake a review of the LES to assess the services' performance and value for money by the end of 2016. Where is that review? I have not seen it. If a review has been carried out, and I seriously doubt it, has that fed into the Minister's decision making or is this just an ideological position essentially to privatise this service? The latter point is the crux of this question. Where is the review and will the Minister publish its findings?
I apologise if the Deputy feels that I was condescending in some way. However, when one is talking about cuts in this area one is talking about a particular type of cut - the number of unemployed people being referred for support.
Then referred to a private entity.
If the number of people who are unemployed in a country halves, obviously there will be fewer referrals.
There have been no cuts to JobPath.
Every time we have questions the Deputy cannot handle the answers. Of course, when unemployment is down by half there will be fewer referrals. Would the Deputy like us to refer the same people twice or to start referring people who are not unemployed? What is the Deputy seriously suggesting?
With regard to the review, it is not ready for publication. It will be published when it is ready. One of the most interesting statistics from it, which the Deputy will see when it is published, is a comparison of the performance of the different local employment services in terms of the results they get. There is huge variation in that. Some local employment services get excellent results with 49% and 50% of people being placed in employment, while some do quite poorly with as low as 14% in some cases. That will be very useful in determining policy in the future.
Question No. 49 answered with Question No. 45.