2025-12-17

I raise a serious matter brought to me by a constituent, a disabled woman who was in receipt of the employment support scheme. This support was fundamental. It enabled her to carry out her role, be productive and build a career on an equal basis with others. On the basis that this support was in place, she made the major decision to progress her career. Like any other employee, she successfully convinced a new employer that she should take on a more senior management role. She did so in good faith with the reasonable expectation that the employment support which enabled her to perform her role would continue with her just as her skills, experience and qualifications did and indeed do for every other worker. She was shocked to discover this support would not transfer with her and would not be available to her new employer. This happened during the probation period where performance, productivity and the ability to carry out core tasks under heightened scrutiny are required. The removal of this support placed her in an impossible position. She now feels being unable to meet productivity expectations, not because of inability or incompetence but because the reasonable support that enabled her to do the job has been withdrawn. In effect, she is being penalised for ambition. Remaining in her previous role would have preserved her support. Her decision to progress her career has resulted in its removal. This places her at a significant disadvantage compared with her non-disabled peers and amounts to discrimination in practice. Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires prohibition of discrimination in all matters concerning employment and obliges states to ensure reasonable accommodation and adopt measures that enable disabled people to enter, remain and progress in employment. The employment support scheme is such a measure. It directly enables her to work and develop a career on an equal basis with others. Replacing it with a wage subsidy scheme does little or nothing to support career progression at middle or senior management levels where success depends on personal supports for the employee rather wage subsidies to employers. I ask that the removal of this scheme from those who currently avail of it and wish to progress their careers be reviewed in light of the principles of providing reasonable accommodation, expectations, obligations under the employment equality Act, the commitment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the employment pillar of the equality and disability strategy.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Cooney as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú inniu. I thank Deputy Cooney for raising this issue. The employment support scheme was run by FÁS. It offered financial support to employers to cover a disabled employee’s employment. The scheme was open to the private sector only. The wage subsidy scheme came into operation as a pilot scheme in September 2005. It replaced the pilot programme for the employment of people with disabilities and the employment support scheme, both of which were closed to applicants at that time. Following a review of its pilot phase, the wage subsidy scheme was placed on a permanent, non-statutory footing in October 2008. Participants in the pilot programme for the employment of people with disabilities became part of the wage subsidy scheme. Any employee in an employment subsidised under the employment support scheme in 2005 when the scheme closed to new applicants was allowed to remain on the scheme but only in that specific employment. If the employment covered by the employment support scheme terminates or changes in the way suggested by Deputy Cooney, the employee cannot transfer their employment support scheme to a new employment but can instead apply for the wage subsidy scheme. Expenditure on the wage subsidy scheme over the past five years has been €2.95 million. The employment support scheme closed to new applicants in 2005. At that time, there were 474 employees in receipt of payments under the scheme in respect of 404 employers. Currently, there are 36 employees still in receipt of payment with 31 employers. The reduction has been due to changing jobs, retirement or switching to the wage subsidy scheme. Last year, the Department of Social Protection published a review of the wage subsidy scheme following a public consultation. The review made six recommendations. I have allocated an additional €3.7 million to implement the review’s recommendations. In April 2024, the minimum hours for the scheme were reduced from 21 to 15 hours. The wage subsidy scheme now includes employers in the community, voluntary and commercial semi-State sector while the employment support scheme was open to private sector only. In budget 2026, we provided for an increase in the subsidy rates paid under the scheme and an expansion in eligibility with regard to those with acquired disabilities. I have also made changes to the supports available to employers to make it more attractive for employers to work with people with disabilities. The employment support scheme is closed to new applications but we are committed to legacy cases and continuing their payment until their employment ends. The programme for Government commits to further reviewing the minimum hours requirement under the wage subsidy scheme for disabled people and to examining further increases to the payment rate. Those commitments are also reflected in the human rights strategy for disabled people to which the Deputy referred. I am happy to discuss this specific case with him offline to see if we can support this person's employer with regard to the wage subsidy scheme and also the workplace adaptation scheme.

I thank the Minister for his update. The maximum rate under the wage subsidy scheme is 50% of the minimum wage. State policy tells employers that disabled people can only work at entry level. We should come at it from the other side and build capacity and value by creating a pathway for those with a disability to progress to the highest levels they can attain which is important for those people. The core issue is that the new wage subsidy scheme is framed in terms of compensating an employer for an employee's perceived lack of ability. That is not empowerment, it is charity. The employment support scheme supports those with a disability to do a job to the fullest and has never been about a defect but about enabling people to contribute on an equal basis with others. The resources it has provided to this woman have allowed her to perform to the highest standard. This benefits her, her employers, her colleagues and wider society, which is very important for people with disabilities.

I thank the Deputy. As I outlined, when the employment support scheme closed in 2005, there were 474 employees in respect of 404 employers. Today, we have 1,518 employers availing of the scheme and over 2,500 employees. We are a long way off where I want to be, however, and I will be very focused on getting people with disabilities into the workforce because they have extraordinary skill and talent to offer. I am constantly reviewing the wage subsidy scheme. In budget 2026, we provided an increase in the base rate of the wage subsidy from €6.30 to €7.50, which is an increase of over 19%. Employers with up to six employees under this scheme will be paid the base rate from next April and employers with between seven and 16 employees are paid €8.50. Employers with 17 employees or more are paid €10 per employee. Employers that employ 25 or more active people with disability are also eligible for a grant of €30,000 towards the employment of an employment assistance officer. As such, we are very much focused on making that scheme work and making it more attractive to employers. I am also very focused on engaging with employers to encourage them to offer opportunities and in doing so highlighting the many companies that are doing that in every role, including management roles, front-facing roles and back office roles, and in using technology to support people to make the most of their talent. We have made changes to the workplace accommodation scheme to do that. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on the wage subsidy scheme, the benefits that are there for his constituent's employer and the supports that are there for them. We will certainly be in contact with him after this again.