Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
568. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of community employment participants who are over 55 years of age; the maximum number of years they can be on the scheme; and the variation that may apply to those who entered the community employment scheme under the part-time jobs opportunity. [45085/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis.
CE participants aged 55 years or older can remain on CE for three consecutive years (four years for those on a disability payment) without the obligation to work towards a Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) major award. Once a participant is 55 years of age there is no requirement for them to participate in any training in order to be considered for a further 52 week participation on the programme. The exception to this is any training relating to the relevant Health and Safety required by the CE sponsor as their employer. However, a person aged 55 years and over has continued access to training and development while they remain on CE should they wish to avail of it.
A jobseeker may re-qualify for CE after a twelve month break once they satisfy the necessary qualifying conditions. An overall lifetime limit of six years applies to all CE participants (seven years for those on a disability payment) irrespective of age.
CE participants over the age of 62 can participate on CE on a continuous basis until they reach the State Pension age via the CE Service Support Stream (SSS). Participation on SSS is subject to the availability of places, satisfactory performance on the CE scheme and, annual approval by the Department. The number of places available for SSS participants within each CE scheme is subject to limitation criteria.
A number of new conditions were introduced to the CE Scheme in July 2017 to further support progression to employment, broaden CE access to a wider range of people and to standardise the conditions relating to the length of time a CE participant can remain on a CE scheme.
In relation to the Deputy’s question on any variation that might apply to those who entered CE under the part-time jobs opportunity compared to current CE participants, the only variation is that now all CE participants have the potential to remain on CE for up to three consecutive years. That option did not exist for those CE participants who originally entered CE under the Part-time Integration (PTI) option prior to the 2017 scheme amendments. PTI had a limit of 2 years participation but now all CE participants can avail of the 3 year limit, subject to qualification criteria.
CE participation was never intended to be long-term or permanent. . The priority for my Department is to ensure that all employment and activation programmes have the best outcomes for participants.
I am fully committed to the future of CE and will continue to support and improve CE for the benefit of all CE participants and the valuable services being provided to local communities.
