John Brady
Ceist:209. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons referred to the local employment service in 2016 and 2017, by county. [3823/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 25 January 2018
Ceisteanna (209)
Freagraí scríofa
The expansion of the department’s activation capacity with the introduction of JobPath and the welcome reduction in the live register has allowed the department over the last two years to develop the activation service provided by the Local Employment Services (LES) across 12 Counties.
In 2016, LES providers were asked to increase the frequency with which they engage with activation jobseekers to enhance the quality of the services they provide. To facilitate this more intensive engagement, the Department reduced the number of people referred to the LES for the purpose of reducing caseloads so as to maintain a maximum caseload 120:1 per case officer
The LES were also requested to increase the time they allocate to work with each individual jobseeker and in 2017 bands were introduced with set engagement patterns so that a LES case officer with 101-120 clients would be expected to have monthly meetings with the clients, 81-100 clients every three weeks and 80 or fewer client every two weeks.
Smaller caseloads are key to providing the one to one intensive type of engagement which long term unemployed clients benefit from most.
It is important to note that 2016 was a year of transition for the LES from the previous model of engagement to the new one; they were still in the process of reducing their caseload with some clients rolling over from 2015. In order to reduce the pressure at some LES locations to enable them to provide the more intensive service requested, a lower number of clients were registered in 2016 to meet the overall caseloads requirements. Following this transition period, the 2017 referral numbers are maintaining a maximum case load of 120 to each case officer.
The table lists the total new registrations for each County for 2016 and 2017.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
New Registrations (attended) All Clients
|
County |
2016 |
2017 |
|
Cork |
529 |
1162 |
|
Dublin |
10332 |
9812 |
|
Galway |
282 |
431 |
|
Kerry |
814 |
1005 |
|
Kildare |
1114 |
1469 |
|
Limerick |
672 |
1403 |
|
Louth |
915 |
1268 |
|
Mayo |
632 |
501 |
|
Monaghan |
505 |
368 |
|
Waterford |
327 |
1343 |
|
Wexford |
447 |
1255 |
|
Wicklow |
135 |
528 |
|
16704 |
20545 |