South Dublin Community Platform Conference: Community Employment more than activation? Bríd O’Brien, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed

Pathways to Work 2015 – 2016: Objectives  Changing from ‘activation in a time of recession’ to ‘activation for a recovery’  Two main objectives:  Continue and consolidate the progress made to date with an initial focus on working with unemployed jobseekers, in particular people who are long-term unemployed; and  Extend the approach of labour market activation to other people who, although not classified as unemployed jobseekers, have the potential and the desire to play an active role in the labour force.

Pathways to Work : Six Strands 1.Enhanced engagement with unemployed people of working age: 15 actions 2.Increase the employment focus of activation programmes and opportunities: 10 actions 3.Making work pay – incentivise the take-up of opportunities: 12 actions 4.Incentivising employers to offer jobs and opportunities to unemployed people: 18 actions 5.Build organisational capability to deliver enhanced services to people who are unemployed: 16 actions 6.Building Workforce Skills: 15 actions

Pathways to Work 2016 Targets  Move 20,000 long term unemployed into employment  Reduce the persistence rate from 27% to 24%  Increase the exit rate of people on the Live Register for two years or more to 44%  Fully implement the JobPath programme and refer at least 60,000 long term unemployed people  300 new employers signed up to the Employment and Youth Activation Charter  Reduce the ratio between youth and overall unemployment from 2.2:1 to 2.1:1  Increase the engagement frequency for one-to-one meetings for Low PEX and LTU clients from 6 to 12 meetings per year  Target an aggregate progression to employment rate across activation programmes of 40%

Four Types of Activation Schemes  Work Programmes e.g. Community Employment  Internships e.g. JobBridge  Training and education e.g. Back to Education Allowance  Self-employment supports e.g. Back to Work Enterprise Allowance

Pathways to Work and Activation Schemes  86 Actions  Community Employment; JobBridge; Back to Work Enterprise Allowance noticeable by their absence.  Action 4.1, Strand 2: Increase the relative share of workplace-based interventions (Gateway, TÚS, Positive to Work etc.) for youth unemployed.  Action 24.2, Strand 5: Publish from Q performance statistics relating to the cost and performance of contracted providers including JobPath, LES / Job Clubs.

Possible modified typology of DSP activation schemes post previous review (Figure 7 ) Labour Market Leverage Market Orientation WeakMarket Orientation Strong Supply - Training Certain Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) Certain Part Time Education Allowance (PTEO)  Greater % of BTEA courses – courses in areas of identified labour shortages & containing work experience elements Certain accelerated programmes allowed under BTEA Certain short term, full time courses allowed under PTEO Demand - Employment Community Employment (CE) and Tús – Shorter duration – greater emphasis on job search and progression planning  JobBridge – now catering for larger encatchment Back to Work Enterprises Allowance Sort Term Enterprise Allowance

Activation Programmes February 2008 February 2010 February 2012 February 2014 February 2016 Back to Work Enterprise Allowance n/a4,90910,84310,21211,747 TUS01732,8147,2727,922 JobBridge003,7626,5414,185 Community Employment 21,23921,67521,97022,72922,730 Full-time training 9,16710,9879,0228,5796,587 Back to Education Allowance 7,83321,09125,42424,32617,794 Total Activation Programmes 52,39966,82880,32785,48179,009

Information on Community Employment  Stepping stones to work are provided through internships and employment initiatives. Explore the different types of initiatives that are in place to help you prepare to take the next step into employment, and help you update your skills, learn new skills and network in a workplace environment.  Community Employment is an employment programme which helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. The programme assists them to enhance and develop both their technical and personal skills which can then be used in the workplace.  The CE programme is Sponsored by groups wishing to benefit the local community, namely voluntary organisations and public bodies involved in not-for- profit activities.Sponsored  Contact your local Employment Services Office for further information about Community Employment.Employment Services Office

Perceptions of Community Employment  The community employment scheme is not well aligned to the labour market  Community Employment is not an ALMP and accounts for too high a proportion of the relevant spend (DPER CRE )  The Community Employment Scheme should not be expanded, even if unemployment increases (OECD & Forfás reviews)  Dual role: 1.Specific Skill (Re)Training focused on the LT Unemployed 2.The Provision of Local Services (NERI)  CE has become a multifaceted programme that aims to satisfy a range of objectives relating to activation of those participating and delivering much needed community services.  The activation element should remain the priority for the Department in its efforts to further its agenda in this area. (DSP previous review)

DSP’s CE and Activation Recommend ations  Recruitment to the scheme should be mediated and directed, based on referral from DSP Employment Services only.  Participation should be limited to one year for participants from the unemployed and lone parent streams, to two years for those from the disability stream, and to three years for those entering based on drug dependency.  Second year only if participating in learning that leads to a qualification at the end of the 2 year period.  Long-term recipients of payments only or low PEX.  Greater focus on ensuring job-search and progression planning for participants well in advance of their scheduled exit from CE.

DSP’s CE Supporting Service Delivery Recommend ations  re-focusing into two strands (an activation and a service strand) within the scheme itself for individual projects, with the service strand existing outside the Departments suite of activation schemes, or  (as suggested by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) a move towards lead core funding of all community projects by the public agency responsible for the relevant kind of service delivery, with CE supporting only part – generally a minority – of staff in any individual organisation / project

The INOU calls on the Department of Social Protection  To ensure that participation on employment programmes is:  by choice;  meaningful for participants;  supported with well-resourced education and training options;  followed through with progression into decent and sustainable employment.  To support CVS organisations to continue to play their part in the provision of employment programmes.  To ensure that employment services play their part in supporting programme participants to progress into employment in the wider labour market.  To actively address barriers to employment including discrimination. In the Central Statistics Office Equality Module, August 2015, the second highest rate of discrimination was reported by people who are unemployed, 23%.