The Department of Social Protection announced a new Community Employment (CE) pilot initiative that came into effect on the 13th of May, 2024. The new initiative extends eligibility to people aged 50 or over who are currently signing-on for Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) Credits only. To be eligible, a person is required to be in receipt of Jobseekers Benefit Credits or a combination of Jobseeker’s Benefit and Jobseekers Benefit Credits for at least 12 months. Previously, people who signed-on for PRSI Credits only were not eligible to take-up Community Employment opportunities - it was necessary that people accessing CE had to be in receipt of a Jobseeker’s payment.
This is a very welcome development and one that the INOU has consistently being calling for in our Pre-Budget and related submissions to Government for the last five years. The INOU General Branch of Individual Members – our unemployed members - had successfully proposed this motion at the 2019 Annual Delegate Conference.
In addition to being eligible to access Community Employment opportunities, a person who takes-up CE under this new initiative will, very importantly, receive the CE single payment rate of €259.50.
Some additional benefits, in addition to the payment, of becoming a CE Participant include:
- Availing of training and meaningful work experience for 19.5 hours per week;
- Payment of Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) at Class A8/A9, which counts as a full paid Class A contribution;
- CE participants can apply for the National Childcare Scheme.
While the initiative provides a new option for a group of people who previously did not have access to CE, this is also likely to be welcome news for CE Sponsors and organisations that depend on the very valuable work provided by CE Participants. Currently, there are significant numbers of CE vacancies countrywide, with many different roles in a range of different Community and Voluntary organisations. We have included a links below to the JobsIreland website that may of interest to anyone searching for Community Employment opportunities.
Browse Vacancies - JobsIreland.ie