Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 April 2021
640. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will carry out a review of the payment made to participants under the community employment scheme in which the current scheme only allows an additional €20 per week on top of the unemployment benefit; if so, if consideration will be given to increasing the payment to €50 per week in addition to the unemployment benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21292/21]
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.
The Department of Social Protection provides financial support in the form of allowances and funding to assist with the Community Employment programme, for example participant wages, supervisor grants, material grants and training grants.
Participants are employed and paid weekly by the sponsor organisation and have certain statutory employment rights including annual leave, maternity leave and public holidays. Participants engage in part time work of 19.5 hours per week.
The payment rates on CE are related to the underlying value of certain social protection payments plus €22.50 per week. In addition, a participant may be eligible, where appropriate, for payments in respect of any qualified dependent adult and children.
If a CE participant's underlying payment, to include dependents, is €203 a week or less, they receive the minimum CE weekly rate of €225.50, that is €203 plus the top up of €22.50. If a participant's underlying payment, to include dependents, is €203 or more, then they receive the same rate as their social welfare payment plus €22.50.
CE participants can retain their medical card and can also retain the extra benefits they were entitled to on their underlying scheme prior to joining CE, for example Fuel Allowance, an increase for Living Alone, Living on an Island and Travel Pass, provided they continue to satisfy the qualifying conditions for those benefits.
CE participants can also work outside of the 19.5 hours that they participant on CE. The income from this employment does not affect their CE payment rate.
A number of Social Welfare payment increases took effect in January 2021 as part of measures introduced by Government in Budget 2021. The weekly payments for qualified child dependents increased by €5 to €45 for children aged 12 or over and by €2 to €38 for children aged up to 12. Fuel Allowance, which is paid during the fuel season each year, was increased by €3.50 to €28 per week. The Living Alone Allowance increased by €5 per week to €19 and the Island Allowance, which is paid to people living on certain offshore islands, increased by €7.30 to €20 per week. These increases benefitted many eligible CE participants.
I am fully committed to the future of this programme and will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the CE participants in particular given the valuable contribution being made to local communities through the provision of services. However, it is not my intention to increase the payment rates for CE participants at this time.
