The weekly threshold for employers to secure financial supports for recruiting people with a disability is to be cut from 21 to 15 hours from April 1st, the Department of Social Protection has announced.
The Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS) provides financial supports to encourage the employment of people with disabilities. The subsidy amounts to €6.30 an hour and applies up to a limit of 39 hours per week with €12,776 being paid in instances where the full supports are availed of.
Currently, the employees have to work at least 21 hours a week but that is now being cut to 15. The move follows a public consultation last year and the provision of €3.7 million in additional funding in the budget.
In a statement on Friday morning, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the move was being made “based on feedback from the sector through the consultation process and will help support more disabled people into employment”.
The scheme, which is intended to provide compensation for any loss of productivity arising from the employee’s disability, is considered to be a significant factor in workforce participation in Ireland.
Just over 30 per cent of people with disabilities were employed in 2020, far below an EU average of around 50 per cent.
There are currently 1,512 private-sector employers availing of the scheme with almost 2,500 employees.
Significantly higher rates of subsidy apply where a larger number of people with disabilities are employed.
The move was welcomed on Friday morning by Ability Focus, an organisation that works with companies and provides training in the area.
“This reduction in hours will have a genuinely positive impact on the employment opportunities for many disabled people in Ireland,” said CEO Stephen Kelly.
“The long-standing requirement of 21 hours to qualify for the WSS has always acted as a barrier to employment for many talented jobseekers with disabilities. By recognising this, and acting to reduce the hours, the DSP have now just taken a notable step in reducing Ireland’s disability employment gap,” he said.
Rehab Group, a major provider of services to people with disabilities as well as an employer in the area, also welcomed the move saying it had been one of the measures it had sought in its pre-budget submission.
“Greater reform is still needed,” it said, however, “including restoration of the link to the National Minimum Wage”.
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