Job Initiative scheme to remain open until all participants reach retirement age
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An €11m-a-year jobseeker's scheme set up in 1996 still has 374 participants, despite not having taken on any new applicants in the last 20 years, it has emerged.
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) into the Job Initiative scheme found that the scheme, first set up by the Department of Enterprise, will continue in its current guise until all participants have reached mandatory retirement age in 2046 — assuming it is left as it is.
The scheme was first set up to benefit participants who were aged 35 years and over who had been in receipt of unemployment benefit nearly 30 years ago.
Given the last applications received were in 2004, and the scheme is not due to expire until 2046, it would appear that some of the final applicants to job initiative scheme were aged under 35 at the time.
When the Department of Social Protection took over the Job Initiative scheme, it had just under 1,200 participants with an annual budget of close to €30m.
Job Initiative is one of three such schemes managed by the department, which are closed to new applicants but where existing participants continue to receive income support.
When applications for the scheme were discontinued in 2004, the Government announced there would be no compulsory lay-offs of participants. It added that all those on the scheme would have their contracts renewed, which gave all concerned the right to remain working on the scheme until they reach statutory retirement age.
Some of the roles in which participants in the scheme work at include Travellers’ advocate, support worker for early school-leavers, and reception and maintenance duties.
The scheme is paid at a weekly rate of €519, for which the individual’s employer is reimbursed by the State, with each contract renewing annually until retirement age.
Some 21 of the 374 workers who remain on the scheme work in a supervisory capacity, which is paid at a higher rate up to €901 per week.
Workers on the scheme are also permitted to work in other roles outside the 39 hours per week dedicated to the Job Initiative scheme.
The department said that an internal review of the scheme in 2023 came up with three options for its winding down – either allowing a natural phase-out, merging the scheme with the Community Employment scheme, or its discontinuation.
The C&AG said, however, that “no decision on the future of the ... scheme has been made to date”.
The auditor recommended that all schemes designed to wind down over an extended period should be reviewed at least every three years to ensure that each is “fit for purpose”.
The department agreed to that recommendation, with the next review of the Job Initiative scheme to come in the second half of next year.