At the INOU’s Annual Delegate Conference in 2019, the General Branch, the mechanism through which unemployed people participate in the running of the organisation, put the following motion to the Conference “That unemployed people who are in receipt of credits should be able to avail of current and future Community Employment and Employment programme places in local community organisations.”
In speaking to the motion, a member of the General Branch noted that people who are unemployed but who are signing on for credits are unable to access Community Employment (CE) projects. He said it would be very useful for some people signing-on for credits if they could access CE. The motion was unanimously agreed. In the INOU’s Budget 2020 submission we called on the Government to “Open up access to employment programmes for unemployed people signing on for credits.”
On the Department of Social Protection’s Community Employment website pages it notes that "A New Pilot Scheme to extend Community Employment (CE) eligibility to people over 50 years of age signing for Jobseeker’s Benefit credited social insurance contributions only (JBCO) or a combination of Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) and JBCO for 12 months or more. Please note that this CE eligibility option is open as part of this pilot scheme since 13 May 2024."
And in the Department’s Annual Report 2024 it also states that "The pilot scheme extending eligibility for Community Employment (CE) to Qualified Adults on Jobseeker’s Allowance continued to be promoted to eligible candidates. In addition, the scheme was also extended to customers on the live register aged over 50 who are signing on for credits only. By year end, over 220 customers have commenced on CE schemes because of these two initiatives." (p55)
Earlier this year we asked the Department would they have more up to date data on how many people who are signing on for credits have joined a CE scheme. In response they noted that at the end of March 2026 there were 322 people on CE who qualified through this eligibility option.
They also said that the Department is offering a voluntary Intreo employment support service to people over 50 years of age signing for Jobseeker’s Benefit credited social insurance contributions only (JBCO). People currently on JBCO and aged 50 to 61 years were contacted directly by the Department’s Employment Support teams to advise them of the value of Community Employment as a stepping-stone to open-labour market employment and to invite them to express an interest in participating. The Department also noted that the same CE rules apply to this group with regard to duration, training and development and other requirements as applies to all other CE participants.
The INOU are delighted to see this development, and we hope that CE continues to be developed to support people on their path to employment.
The INOU’s publication Working for Work contains further information on Community Employment (p133-141) is available here