One-stop shop provides income and employment supports in one place for jobseekers
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. and the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton T.D., today (Friday, 22nd November, 2013) officially opened the new Intreo Centre in Loughrea, County Galway.
Intreo is the Department’s transformative approach to helping people get back to work, offering an integrated employment and support service.
The Intreo Centre in Loughrea provides a one-stop shop for jobseekers where they can get their income supports and employment supports in the one place for the first time.
Intreo is a key element of the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy to tackle unemployment.
The Taoiseach said: “The Government's top priority is to get Ireland working again and the complete overhaul of our welfare and employment support services is a big part of that plan. Jobseekers will now have a full range of supports provided through a nationwide network of Intreo offices like the one now open in Loughrea. Everyone should be better off in work and, with these changes, we can better help the long-term unemployed like never before. Getting Ireland working again is absolutely essential for the long-term economic and social well-being of Ireland.”
Minister Burton said: “Since coming to office, I have focused on transforming the Department from the passive benefits provider of old to one that provides an active and engaged employment service, helping jobseekers to find work, training or education – and that’s exactly what Intreo Centres such as Loughrea provide.
“But Intreo Centres are not just for jobseekers, they are also for employers. We provide a range of supports for employers, such as JobsPlus, the wage subsidy scheme where the State pays approximately €1 in €4 of the typical cost of hiring someone who has been on the Live Register for 12 months or more. I would urge employers as well as jobseekers in the area to see what the Intreo office has to offer them.”
There are now 16 Intreo Centres across the country and it is intended that the full Intreo service will be delivered to all of the Department’s 63 offices nationwide by the end of 2014, with funding secured in the Budget for that purpose.
A number of key elements make up the Intreo service. These include:
- Activation measures including client profiling, early group engagement and regular one-to-one meetings with case officers which focus on employment supports and monitoring of the client's progress.
- Integrated decision-making process leading to quicker decisions.
- Integrated reception providing a one-stop shop incorporating all strands of the Department's employment and income support services.
- An emphasis on the mutual commitments between the service and its clients.
- Enhanced employer engagement at national and local level maximising access to job opportunities and potential employees.
Minister Burton welcomed the news that for the first time, employers in east and south Galway now have a dedicated locally-based network of case officers to assist with the development and targeting of employment initiatives.
The Minister said: “I am very pleased that through increased engagement with other agencies, such as Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board, MABS and the Citizens Information Centre, the customers of Loughrea and surrounding areas will be able to avail of a wide range of opportunities and supports which will help them get back to work. The Live Register has fallen below 400,000 for the first time in over four years and that is a clear sign that the Pathways to Work strategy is succeeding. There are still far too many people on the Live Register of course, but we are moving decisively in the right direction.”
ENDS
Note for Editors
The 'Intreo' process consists of five main elements:
An integrated 'one-stop-shop' reception service
- This replaces the three previously separate services from FÁS, the Department of Social Protection and the Community Welfare Service (HSE).
- In practice, this means that the client receives complete information on a more timely basis, in one location and all follow-on appointments can be scheduled at the same time.
A single decisions process
- Previously, clients submitting claims for social welfare payments might have had to wait some time for their claim to be awarded as details of their employment status and income were assessed.
- While awaiting this payment, clients were entitled, by submitting a separate claim to the Community Welfare Service, to an emergency Supplementary Welfare Allowance payment.
- The new process significantly reduces the time taken to decide a claim (down to one day in most cases) and those clients who might still require a supplementary payment can have this decision made as part of the single process rather than having to submit a separate claim.
- As part of the decisions process, a personal profile (known as PEX) is captured for each individual and this profile informs the approach taken at the next stage in the process – activation.
An integrated activation/employment service process
- Previously clients had to wait at least three months before an appointment could be made with an employment services officer, and in some cases this appointment had to be triggered by the client themselves.
- Now, under the new process, all clients must attend a group engagement session – typically within a week or two of registering for jobseekers’ payments. Depending on their personal profile, they are subsequently scheduled for follow-on one-to-one meetings with an experienced employment services officer.
- The group engagement session is designed to give clients basic information on their entitlements and the services that are available to them in order to help them return to work. Each client is given a fact sheet in preparation for and in advance of the one-to-one meeting.
- At the one-to-one meeting the employment services officer/case worker will go into greater detail as to the employment and training supports available and help the client to prepare a Personal Progression Plan (PPP).
- Follow-up meetings are then scheduled to monitor progress against the plan and to adjust it, as circumstances dictate. Clients may also be contacted in the periods between one-to-one meetings to check if the client is following the actions agreed under the PPP.
- Ultimately clients, who despite the assistance of their case officer, cannot make progress on the pathway into employment/further education, may be directed to, and required to, take up a place on a State employment or training scheme.
Social Contract – Rights and Responsibilities
- This contract underpins the Intreo approach.
- It is a record of the commitments being made by the Intreo service and also of the commitments expected of clients who avail of that service. In other words, a social contract to ensure that all parties understand that with rights to supports from the Department come responsibilities to engage with those services.
- The commitments expected of clients are that they will:
o Co-operate with the Intreo service in developing a Personal Progression Plan.
o Use this plan to strive to secure employment.
o Attend all meetings requested by the Department.
o Provide all information requested by the Department.
o Clients who register for the service will be expected to sign and honour this Record of Mutual Commitments.
- Failure to honour this commitment can lead to a reduction in, and ultimately a cessation of payments.
Employer Engagement
- The Department already offers a suite of services that can assist employers in recruiting staff from the Live Register. These include:
o Job advertising and job matching services (jobsireland.ie)
o An internship scheme - JobBridge (jobbridge.ie)
o Financial supports for recruiting long-term unemployed people – JobsPlus (jobsplus.ie)
o In-work supports to employees – Part-time Job Incentive scheme and Family Income Supplement
o WorkAbility services, including wage subsides and grants, for employing people with a disability.