We currently employ over a couple of dozen people through the Community Employment (CE) Scheme, which is administered by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). This has lead to a steady stream of phone calls, and calls to our office, from people who are trying to find out about the requirements. So for everybody’s convenience, here is all the info you will need, taken directly from the Citizens Information website…

Information

The Community Employment (CE) programme is designed to help people who are long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged people to get back to work by offering part-time and temporary placements in jobs based within local communities. Participants can take up other part-time work during their placement. After the placement, participants are encouraged to seek permanent part-time and full-time jobs elsewhere based on the experience and new skills they have gained while in a Community Employment scheme. The Community Employment programme is administered by the Department of Social Protection (DSP).

Rules

There are 2 different categories of Community Employment (CE), each with its own set of eligibility requirements. These are the Part-time Integration Option and the Part-time Job Option. You can participate in either of these options but not in both at the same time. There are maximum time limits for Community Employment participation – 3 years for people aged under 55 and 6 years for people aged over 55. If you are getting one of the specified disability payments you may be eligible for an additional year’s participation. Time spent on CE before 3 April 2000 is not counted in these participation limits.

Community Employment sponsors – the voluntary organisations or public bodies that manage CE schemes – plan and manage CE placements. They sponsor local or community projects that meet an identified community need and offer participants training or skills development opportunities during their placement.

The average number of working hours for placements is 39 hours per fortnight. You are paid weekly by your sponsor and have certain statutory employment rights including annual leave, public holidays, maternity leave and a written statement of your terms and conditions of employment. Tax may be deducted from your pay if applicable but your CE pay is exempt from the Universal Social Charge. As a participant on a Community Employment scheme you pay a special lower PRSI contribution at Class A8/A9 but this counts as a full Class A PRSI contribution.

CE Part-time Integration Option

The Part-time Integration Option allows you to work under the Community Employment scheme for a maximum of 1 year. It may be possible to have your one-year placement extended by another year, subject to DSP approval and the availability of places and budget. Generally participants complete their one-year placement and then seek a permanent full-time or part-time job elsewhere.

You may qualify for participation in the CE Part-time Integration Option if:

You are aged 25 years or older and:

• Unemployed and getting any combination of the following payments: Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA), One-Parent Family Payment (OFP), Deserted Wife’s Benefit, Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension, Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Non-Contributory Pension or Farm Assist for at least 12 months*. (If you were getting Carer’s Allowance this can also count towards the one-year eligibility period, but your caring responsibilities must have ceased and you must currently be getting either JB, JA or OFP.)
• A qualified adult of someone who has been getting Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Farm Assist for at least 1 year – see ‘Swap with qualified adult ‘ below.

OR

You are aged 18 years and over and:

• A member of the Traveller community, unemployed and getting Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance for any period or One-Parent Family Payment for at least 1 year. Travellers aged 16 and 17 who have spent 12 months in a Traveller Training Centre are also eligible.
• Getting Disability Allowance, Blind Person’s Pension or Invalidity Pension
• Getting Illness Benefit for at least 6 months
• A refugee authenticated by the Department of Justice and Equality (Garda Registration Certificate with Stamp 4) and getting a social welfare payment
• An ex-offender who has been referred by the Probation Service or other designated service, or an ex-offender not referred by a designated service who has been getting JA or JB for 12 months
• Referred following an appropriate assessment according to the National Drugs Rehabilitation Framework protocols
• Living on one of the offshore islands

Eligibility period: Time spent on one of the above disability payments can count towards the 12-month eligibility period, provided there is no break, for example, 3 months on Illness Benefit followed immediately by 9 months on Jobseeker’s Allowance. Time spent on CE no longer counts towards continued time on CE for new participants who start on or after 8 October 2012. Generally, time spent on Tús, JobBridge, Back to Education Allowance or Springboard will not count towards the 12-month eligibility period. There are a few exceptions and you can read more about these and the other eligibility requirements for the Part-time Integration Option on welfare.ie.

CE Part-Time Job Option

The CE Part-Time Job Option provides participants with part-time work placements for 1 year initially, with annually renewable contracts for another 2 years, subject to DSP approval and the availability of places and budget. This option is designed to give extended access to employment to older people who may have been unable to secure regular employment for some time.

You may qualify for participation in the CE Part-Time Job Option if:

You are aged 35 years or older and you:

• Have been getting any combination of the following payments: Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, One-Parent Family Payment (OFP), Widow’s, Deserted Wife’s Benefit, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension, Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Non-Contributory Pension or Farm Assist for at least 3 years*. (If you were getting Carer’s Allowance this can also count towards the 3-year eligibility period, but your caring responsibilities must have ceased and you must currently be getting either JA, JB or OFP)
• Getting Disability Allowance, Blind Person’s Pension or Invalidity Pension
• Getting Illness Benefit for at least 6 months
• An ex-offender who has been referred by the Probation Service or other designated service, or an ex-offender not referred by a designated service who has been getting JA or JB for 3 years
• A qualified adult of someone who getting Jobseeker’s Allowance, Jobseeker’s Benefit or Farm Assist for 3 years or more – see ‘Swap with qualified adult’ below.

OR

You are 18 years of age or over and:

• A member of the Traveller community getting Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or One-Parent Family Payment for at least 1 year. Travellers aged 16 and 17 who have spent 12 months in a Traveller Training Centre are also eligible.
• A refugee authenticated by the Department of Justice and Equality (Garda Registration Certificate with Stamp 4) and getting a social welfare payment
• Referred following an appropriate assessment according to the National Drugs Rehabilitation Framework protocols’
• Living on one of the offshore islands

Eligibility period: Time spent on one of the above disability payments can count towards the 3-year eligibility period, provided there is no break, for example, 12 months on Illness Benefit followed immediately by 24 months on Jobseeker’s Allowance. Time spent on CE no longer counts towards continued time on CE for new participants who start on or after 8 October 2012. Generally, time spent on Tús, JobBridge, Back to Education Allowance or Springboard will not count towards the 3-year eligibility period. There are some exceptions and you can read more about these and the other eligibility requirements for the Part-time Job Option on welfare.ie.

Swap with qualified adult

If you are getting JB, JA or Farm Assist and qualify for CE, you may transfer your eligibility to your qualified adult. People who avail of this swap will not lose out on any allowances as they exchange circumstances with each other, meaning that the allowances the Community Employment applicant would have received are transferred to their qualified adult. It is important for the qualified adult to sign on for credits at the local social welfare office to protect any future pension entitlements.

Social welfare payments

Since 16 January 2012 new participants on Community Employment (CE) schemes cannot claim another social welfare payment at the same time. New participants are people who have not been employed on a CE scheme in the previous 12 months.

Existing participants on One-Parent Family Payment, Deserted Wife’s Benefit, disability payments and widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s pensions will continue to get their social welfare payment until they are no longer eligible to participate in a CE scheme or they leave the scheme voluntarily. Otherwise they will keep it until December 2014 which is the final cut-off date for getting a concurrent social welfare payment.

Qualified child increases: Since 20 February 2012 if a person is on a CE scheme and getting One-Parent Family Payment, Deserted Wife’s Benefit or Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension, payment of 2 qualified child increases ceased for both new and existing participants. Existing participants get the qualified child increase on their social welfare payment and get the personal rate for a CE participant. New CE participants get the qualified child increase with their CE payment.

Extra benefits: You will retain your medical card. You will retain an entitlement to the extra benefits you were receiving immediately before going onto Community Employment provided you continue to satisfy the conditions for these benefits.

Rent and Mortgage Interest Supplements: The amount of Rent Supplement which you get may be reduced. You may be able to keep part of your Mortgage Interest Supplement.

Rates

The Department of Social Protection offers grants to sponsors towards the cost of hiring people under the scheme. Funding for CE participants aged over 65 is not provided.

Since 16 January 2012 the minimum weekly payment for new participants based on 19.5 hours worked is €208.

If the actual social welfare payment (including dependants) you were getting was €188 a week or less, then you will get the minimum CE weekly rate of €208 (that is €188 plus €20). If your actual weekly social welfare payment (including dependants) was €188.01 or more, then you will get the equivalent rate plus €20.

Example: Mary is single and gets a reduced rate of JA (€144). Mary will get €208 a week on CE. Jack currently gets a Farm Assist payment of €305 which includes his wife and two children. Jack will get €325 a week on CE.

The rules that apply to your original social welfare payment also apply to your CE payment. This means that, if your qualified adult gets a job, their income will be assessed as means and your CE payment may be reduced. Your CE payment cannot be reduced below the minimum rate of €208. In order to avoid any possible overpayments, if there is any change in your circumstances, you should inform your CE supervisor and the local DSP Community Development Officer responsible for your CE scheme. (Your CE supervisor will give you contact details for the local DSP Community Development Officer.)

Example: Jim was on JA and got €312.80 a week including a payment for his wife Ann. He gets €332.80 a week on CE. If Ann gets a job, her income will be assessed against Jim’s CE payment. If he is no longer entitled to a qualified adult payment for her, his CE payment will be reduced to the minimum CE rate of €208.

Those who started a CE scheme before 16 January 2012 will continue to get their existing payment.

How to apply

There are a limited number of Community Employment places available. If you want to participate in a Community Employment scheme contact your local employment services office for information about Community Employment job opportunities. Job listings are also available online.

Voluntary organisations and public bodies may sponsor Community Employment projects which are for community and public benefit. They should contact their local employment services office for more information.

Where to apply

Contact your local employment services office. Alternatively you can drop us a line here at the FRG, and we will advise you as best we can.

About the CE Scheme information supplied on this page:

This information was last updated by the Citizens Information Board on 1st of May 2013. The Citizens Information Board is the statutory body which supports the provision of information, advice and advocacy on a broad range of public and social services. It provides the Citizens Information website, www.citizensinformation.ie, and supports the voluntary network of Citizens Information Centres and the Citizens Information Phone Service 0761 07 4000. It also funds and supports the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) 0761 07 2000 and the National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities. The Citizens Information Board provides the dedicated Mortgage Arrears Information Helpline 0761 07 4050.

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