The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys has secured Cabinet approval for major reforms to Community Employment (CE), Tús and the Rural Social Scheme (RSS).

There are currently over 19,000 participants on CE, almost 5,000 participants on Tús and just under 3,000 participants on the RSS.

The government will invest over €500 million in the three schemes this year.

Both CE and Tús provide work experience to long-term unemployed people in their local communities to help them find employment. RSS is aimed at people whose income falls below certain limits.

The scheme reforms approved by Cabinet include:

The measures are in addition to previous changes introduced earlier this year which allow participants on CE and RSS who are aged over 60 to remain on schemes until retirement.

Commenting on the reforms, Minister Heather Humphreys said:

“We now have record employment in Ireland with over 2.5 million people at work. While this is hugely positive it does present challenges for local schemes in terms of recruitment which in turn has a knock-on effect on the delivery of important local services in communities.

“The changes that I am announcing today will extend the eligibility criteria for these schemes and will also provide additional flexibility to local supervisors when it comes to the recruitment and retention of participants," the minister said.

Minister Humphreys and Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development Joe O'Brien also today (Wednesday, June 29) announced that the application process for the ex-gratia payment for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors is now open.

Around 700 people who have retired since 2008 will be able to apply for payment from this scheme.

The payment is subject to a cap of €600/week for a maximum of two weeks/year. The qualifying period is from July 1, 2008 to December 31, 2023.

The payment will benefit around 2,500 people at a total cost of over €24 million.