The Work Placement Experience Programme was first announced in the 2020 July Jobs Stimulus, it was contained in the Economic Recovery Plan and National Recovery and Resilience Plan published at the beginning of June 2021, and finally launched on July 12th 2021, on the day Pathways to Work 2021-2025 was published.
In Pathways to Work the Government notes that the Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) is “A new work placement experience programme for those out of work for at least six months with the costs being fully funded by the State.” (p52)
On page 72 they go on to note they will “Offer early access to the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy for young people (those aged under 30) and actively promote take-up by young people of the 10,000 places on the Work Placement Experience Programme. This latter measure in particular reflects international evidence that work-based placements can help break the cycle of ‘no work, no experience’ and ‘no experience, no work’ that often puts young people at risk of long-term unemployment.”
Under Commitment 59 of Pathways to Work they say they will “Target that at least 4,000 of the 10,000 Work Placement Experience Programme places will be taken up by young people.”
While for older unemployed people, under Commitment 56, they note that: “Reviewing the eligibility conditions for access to work placement and recruitment subsidy schemes to consider, for example, if higher recruitment subsidies should be made available for the recruitment of older unemployed workers.”
On the Department of Social Protection’s page on gov.ie they say that the WPEP is “a 6-month, 30 hour per week voluntary work experience programme. The programme is for jobseekers that are currently getting a qualifying social welfare payment and who have been unemployed for six months (156 days) or more.”
The word ‘voluntary’ is important in this statement: a key ask for the INOU in our Pre-Budget submission is for the Government to “Ensure that unemployed people’s participation in employment programmes is by choice and that they are facilitated to gain good work experience and enhance their skills.”
The weekly payment on the WPEP for participants will be €306 and made by the Department. The equivalent rate on Community Employment and Tús is €225.50: these employment programmes run for at least a year and the hours worked per week are 19.5. Any participant entitled to and receiving a Qualified Adult or Child increase will continue to do so on WPEP.
The qualifying payments are: Jobseeker’s Allowance or Benefit; Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment; One-Parent Family Payment; Disability Allowance; Blind Pension; Farm Assist; Jobseeker’s Benefit for the Self-Employed.
The Department also notes that time spent on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment; Supplementary Welfare Allowance; Community Employment Scheme; Tús and the Rural Social Scheme will also count, but that the potential participant must first of all successfully apply for a Jobseeker’s payment.
Another qualifying criteria for participation on the Work Placement Experience Programme is the age range: participants must be aged between 18 and 65.
In the Operational Guidelines for this Programme, the Department states that the key objectives are to:
- Keep jobseekers close to the labour market.
- Provide jobseekers who have never had a job with the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and training to assist them to gain employment.
- Provide jobseekers who wish to change careers with the opportunity to gain quality work experience in a new employment role.
- Facilitate employers to contribute to the national activation agenda by providing work placement opportunities to jobseekers.
If you wish to read more about the Work Placement Experience Programme, please follow this link.