Deputy Sean Canney has welcomed the announcement of major reforms to the Community Employment (CE ) and Rural Social Scheme (RSS ).
The reforms, which Dep Canney has long campaigned for, will mean participants aged over 60 years can remain on the schemes until retirement. Referrals to the schemes are to be significantly ramped up in 2022, with a minimum of 40 per cent of unemployed people referred to the schemes via Intreo to be offered places. Local Intreo offices will work closely with local schemes in implementing this new rule to ensure people are referred to placements which are suitable to their skill-set. The schemes will also be given the flexibility to retain current participants until replacements are found.
The changes to the schemes, which provide employment for people who are long term unemployed (CE ) or farmers and fishermen who rely on social welfare payments (RSS ), will help to reduce vacancies and provide vital local services in the communities which rely on them.
“I have raised the issue numerous times in the Dail and I met with the Minister and officials to ensure that reforms were introduced to ensure that the schemes remained effective and continued to bring benefit to communities,” Deputy Canney said. “The reforms will also bring certainty to participants, and I particularly welcome the fact that those over 60 years can remain on the schemes until they retire.”
Other changes include an updating of the so-called baseline year, which will be updated from 2007 to 2014 and will continue to be updated on a yearly basis to remain at seven years behind the current calendar year. This means that time spent on CE before the baseline year will not count towards the maximum time a participant can spend on CE. This will give CE participants who remain unemployed further opportunities to participate on schemes, and enable them to continue to contribute to providing essential local services in their community.
The purpose of CE is two-fold; to support long-term unemployed people to gain work experience and training to assist them in finding employment opportunities in the open labour market, and to provide vital services in local communities.
Some 850 CE schemes deliver a wide range of key community services, particularly in disadvantaged and rural areas. There are more than 19,000 people availing of CE, with a budget of €340 million this year.
The Rural Social Scheme (RSS ) is an income support scheme that provides part-time employment opportunities for underemployed farmers who receive specific social welfare payments. There are almost 3,000 people availing of RSS at present, with a budget of €52 million for 2021.
“CE and RSS support a range of vital local services such as childcare, meals on wheels, the maintenance and upkeep of local amenities and other vital work in our communities,” Deputy Canney said.
“I have long been of the view that programmes like CE cannot be viewed solely as a job activation measure, there are also huge societal benefits from the good work carried out in local communities by these schemes.”
Generally, participants have the opportunity to continue to avail of a CE scheme for one to three consecutive years, up to a maximum of six years in total. Participants over age 62 can currently remain on CE until they reach retirement age, subject to certain conditions. Since 2017, the maximum time allowed on RSS is six years for new entrants.
The new improvements will extend the time some participants are allowed to continue to avail of CE - mainly categories of participants who tend to find it most difficult to secure employment once their time on their scheme ends. These improvements will also further support schemes delivering vital services to local communities.
