Tánaiste and Minister Hanafin Announce Details of Revised Work Placement Programme

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D., together with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms. Mary Hanafin, T.D., today (Friday 13^th November 2009) announced details to relax the eligibility criteria of the Work Placement Programme. The Programme is now aimed at providing 9 months work experience to 2,000 unemployed individuals, while they continue to maintain their social welfare entitlements.

Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said, “Many people who at the moment cannot find employment want to ensure that they retain their skills level or want to secure work experience that will help their CV and assist them in getting a job. That is what this programme aims to achieve, while at the same time retaining their social welfare entitlements.

“At the initial launch of the Programme, we promised to review its operation and its eligibility criteria and I am glad to say that this review has now been completed. We have decided to improve the accessibility of the Programme by amending its eligibility criteria for both unemployed participants and firms providing placements.”

The key changes relate to the eligibility criteria. For unemployed participants the following criteria have been amended:

• Recipients of most social welfare payments, including Job Seekers’ Allowance and Job Seekers’ Benefit, will now be eligible to apply. Unemployed graduates who are not receiving a social welfare payment will also now be eligible to apply.

• 2009 graduates are now also eligible to apply.

• The period, for which participants have to be in receipt of a social welfare payment in order to be eligible, has been reduced from 6 months to 3 months.

The key changes relating to the eligibility criteria of firms providing placements are:

The Programme will be open to all sectors of the economy including, the private, public, and now the community and voluntary sectors. The requirement for a firm to have at least 10 employees has been removed.
Previously firms could only participate if they did not have redundancies in the previous 6 months. This constraint has been reduced to 3 months. However, the level of redundancies in the last three months were less than 5% of the workforce, these firms will be eligible to participate.
The duration of the work placement has been increased to a maximum of 9 months.

Minister Hanafin stated that, “this programme offers jobseekers and graduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience in their chosen field. With the introduction of the amended eligibility criteria, we expect that the number of participants on the Work Placement Programme will be substantially increased.” The revised criteria will come into effect from 1st December 2009.

Concluding, the Tánaiste said, “the amended Work Placement Programme demonstrates the Governments willingness to evaluate and review programmes to assess their performance and then to make the necessary amendments in order to increase their impact. We are also disposed to increasing the number of places available on this Programme should the revised criteria prove successful and on the number of places currently available becoming fully subscribed.”

FÁS will continue to manage the Work Placement Programme and interested parties should revert to the FAS website, www.fas.ie, for further information or their local FÁS Employment Services offices or alternatively they can call the FÁS freephone number 1800 611 116.

ENDS/ETE2137

Notes for Editors:

REVISED WORK PLACEMENT PROGRAMME

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STREAM 1:GRADUATES (1,000 PLACES, NINE-MONTH DURATION)

All unemployed graduates will be eligible to apply to participate in the Work Placement Programme provided they meet the other criteria. Unemployed graduates who are not receiving a social welfare payment will also be eligible to apply.
Graduates must have attained a full award at level 7 or above on the National Framework of Qualifications.
Individuals in receipt of a Jobseekers Benefit (JB) payment will now be eligible to apply and participate on the Work Placement Programme (WPP). Where a person exhausts their entitlement to JB while participating on a WPP they can apply for a Jobseekers Allowance (JA) payment, which is subject to satisfying a means test. It should be noted that a participant who is not eligible for a Jobseekers Allowance and has exhausted their entitlement to Jobseekers Benefit would then not receive a social welfare payment.
Individuals in receipt of other Social welfare allowances/payments will be eligible to participate in the Programme, in accordance with existing arrangements. These include the following:

Disability Allowance,
Blind Pension,
Invalidity Pension,
Illness Benefit or
Lone parents allowance

Individuals in receipt of a disability or illness payment must get written approval from the Department of Social and Family Affairs to do rehabilitative work while participating in the Work Placement Programme and to retain their disability payment. This may involve a doctor certifying that the work placement will be rehabilitative.

Individuals in these categories will be directed by FÁS to the Department of Social and Family Affairs in the first instance and then once approval has been granted they will be eligible to participate in the programme.

The period, for which participants have to be in receipt of a Social welfare payment in order to be eligible, has been reduced to 3 months. Periods spent on FÁS training programmes for individuals who were in receipt of Social Welfare payments prior to the commencement of the training, will count in relation to the Work Placement Programme’s qualifying period.
The placement will be for a maximum nine-month period.
Local FÁS offices will be the first point of contact for those interested in the Programme.
FÁS will refer potential participants to providers. On referral from FÁS, the provider of the work experience may interview potential participants.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs will continue to pay social welfare entitlements to participants on the Programme, for the duration that their entitlement exists.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STREAM 2: (1,000 PLACES, NINE-MONTH DURATION):

This stream will be open to all individuals who do not possess a full award at level 7 or above on the National Framework of Qualifications.
Unemployed individuals who are not receiving a social welfare payment are eligible to apply.
250 places will be ring-fenced for under 34's.
Individuals in receipt of a Jobseekers Benefit (JB) payment will now be eligible to apply and participate on the Work Placement Programme (WPP). Where a person exhausts their entitlement to JB while participating on a WPP they can apply for a Jobseekers Allowance (JA) payment, which is subject to satisfying a means test. It should be noted that a participant who is not eligible for a Jobseekers Allowance and has exhausted their entitlement to Jobseekers Benefit would then not receive a social welfare payment.
Individuals in receipt of other Social welfare allowances/payments will be eligible to participate in the Programme, in accordance with existing arrangements. These include the following:
- Disability Allowance,
- Blind Pension,
- Invalidity Pension,
- Illness Benefit or
- Lone parents allowance

The period, for which participants have to be in receipt of a Social welfare payment in order to be eligible, has been reduced to 3 months. Periods spent on FÁS training programmes for individuals who were in receipt of Social Welfare payments prior to the commencement of the training, will count in relation to the Work Placement Programme’s qualifying period.
The placement will be for a maximum nine-month period.
Local FÁS offices will be the first point of contact for those interested in the Programme.
FÁS will refer potential participants to providers. On referral from FÁS, the provider of the work experience may interview potential participants.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs will continue to pay social welfare entitlements to participants on the Programme, for the duration that their entitlement exists.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTION:PROVIDERS:

The Work Placement Programme will be open to all sectors of the economy including:

The private sector
The public sector
The community and voluntary sector

Firms that have had redundancies in the last three months are not eligible to participate. However, where there is no direct displacement of an employee, and the level of redundancies in the last three months were less than 5% of the workforce, these firms will be eligible to participate.
Provider applicants will only be considered if the business is a legal entity.
The Work Placement Programme will be available to most providers irrespective of their number of employees. However, in order to qualify providers must employ at least one employee. The number of places a provider can avail of is dependant on the number of employees they have.

Number of Employees	Number of WPP Placements
1-10 employees	1 Place
11-20 employees	2 Places
21-30 employees	3 Places
30 + employees	10% of their workforce to a maximum of 25 places whichever is the smaller

The placement will be for a maximum nine-month period.
Prospective providers shall register with FÁS.
On referral from FÁS, the provider of the work experience may interview potential participants.
The placement will not be provided to fill an existing vacancy.
The placement will not be provided to displace an existing employee.
Providers must have Public and Employers liability insurance and this must cover the participant on the work placement.
Providers must confirm that their company is fully compliant with current workplace health and safety and all other legal requirements.

Last modified: 13/11/2009

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