Leo Varadkar, the minister for social protection, has dismissed more than 140 complaints from the long-term unemployed that they are being “harassed” into taking up positions under the department’s JobPath scheme.
“It is not OK for some people to say they do not want to work or they will keep claiming welfare until they get a job they believe they want or suits them,” Varadkar has told the Dail.
Carol Nolan, a Sinn Fein TD, had said she and other deputies were aware of a number of constituents who had been “forced and harassed to take up positions under JobPath to which they are simply unsuited”, and were being diverted away from Community Employment schemes.
Nolan said there were fears the scheme was seen as a way to reduce social welfare payments to some claimants.
The Department of Social Protection confirmed that, while about 60,000 people had been referred to JobPath, another 1,500 had been penalised for failure to engage with the scheme. Of those, 500 people were on a reduced social welfare payment, it said.
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Confirming there had been 145 complaints about the scheme, Varadkar said there were people “who have become institutionalised, going from welfare to training scheme to CE scheme and repeating that process on a carousel of dependency”.
The minister added: “If a person does not want to work, it is always possible for him or her to sign off.”
The department was unable to say how many of the long-term unemployed were placed in employment under JobPath, which was launched in July 2015 by Varadkar’s predecessor Joan Burton.
Under the scheme two private recruitment agencies were contracted to secure sustainable employment for the long-term unemployed in order to get them off the Live Register.
The contractors are paid an undisclosed fee when they place that person in employment. The fee is paid after three, six, nine and 12 months, to ensure the person is placed in sustainable employment.
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Two commercial recruitment companies secured the contracts. They were Turas Nua, which is a joint venture between Irish recruitment company FRS Recruitment and the UK-based Working Links; and the British company Seetec.
A spokesman for Seetec said that, to date, 30,000 people had registered with it. “For the significant majority of clients, the experience has been beneficial with less than 0.2% having recorded any complaints,” he said. Turas Nua said it had received “very positive feedback from the vast majority of the customers we are working with”. Neither company would say how many people it had placed in employment or the fee it had been paid.
The department argues that the contractors augment the work of its staff. JobPath is a “payment by results” scheme, in that the contractor is paid only when it places a person in sustainable employment, said Varadkar’s officials.