My Department provides funding to Community Employment (CE) Sponsoring Organisations on the basis of an annual contract agreement. The CE Sponsors are the legal employers of CE supervisors and the duration for which the Sponsor contracts with the supervisor is a matter between the two parties. However, the Department provides funding for the duration of the agreement (1 year). It is recommended that such contracts reflect that the position is subject to continued funding by the Department for the scheme.
Supervisors are excluded from Section 9 provisions of the Protection of Employees (fixed Term Work) Act 2003 as they are “employees with a contract of employment which has been concluded within a framework of a specific public or publicly-supported training” under Section 2 of this Act. This means that CE contracts for supervisors cannot be of indefinite duration.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.