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Community Employment Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Ceisteanna (834)

Michael McNamara

Ceist:

834. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) on a community employment scheme that is due to expire on 23 October 2020 could have their term extended due to Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32332/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with work experience and training opportunities in CE projects which benefit their local communities on a temporary, fixed term basis.

In general CE placements for new entrants aged between 21 and 55 years are for one year. CE participants who are working towards a Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) major award can seek to extend their participation on CE by up to two years to enable them to reach the required standard of qualification. CE participants aged 55 years or older can remain on CE for three years and do not have to work towards a QQI major award.

In either scenario, a maximum of three consecutive year’s participation is permissible. A person may re-qualify for CE after a 12-month break once they satisfy the qualifying conditions. An overall lifetime limit of six years applies to all CE participants (seven years for those whose eligibility is based on a disability payment).

Participants over age 62 are allowed to participate on a continuous basis up to the State Pension age on the CE Service Support Stream (SSS), subject to availability of places on the SSS, satisfactory performance on the scheme and to annual approval by the Department. The places allocated for these participants within each individual CE scheme are subject to limitation criteria.

The person concerned was to complete his time on CE on 13/11/2020. However, due to Level 5 restrictions his contract has been extended and he will now finish up on 4/12/2020.

During his time on CE he has completed a number of courses including Safe Pass, Sports Surface maintenance, Manual Handling and a number of Horticulture related courses. The purpose of the training and support that he received while on CE was to prepare him for full-time sustainable employment.

On finishing CE the person concerned may avail of my Department's Activation service who will work with him to ensure that the benefits of the experience and training he received during his time on CE are maximised. A case officer will assess his skills, experience, challenges and work goals and assist him in finding full-time sustainable employment. This process will also help identify potential employment opportunities and offers support to Jobseeker’s in overcoming any barriers to employment

The priority for my Department is to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants. Places on these work programmes will continue to be made available to support those who are long term unemployed and furthest removed from the labour market, while maintaining the role of CE as an active labour market programme.

While I understand that sponsoring bodies may wish to extend a CE participant's time on a CE scheme or CE participants themselves may wish to extend their time on a CE scheme, the Deputy will appreciate that such extensions would have a detrimental effect on other long-term unemployed candidates wishing to avail of the opportunities afforded by CE.

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