Dept of Social Protection

The Department of Social Protection offers a wide range of tailored employment services and supports for jobseekers and employers alike. For further information see www.welfare.ie. These services and supports include the following:

  • The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme:

allows those embarking on self employment to retain some existing welfare benefits while setting up a new business.  If you take part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme you can keep a percentage of your social welfare payment for up to 2 years.

  • JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme:

provides work experience placements for interns for a 6 or 9 month period.  Interns will receive an allowance of €50 per week on top of their existing social welfare entitlement. This will be payable for the period of the internship by the Department of Social Protection. You can find full information about JobBridge and eligibility requirements for participants and organisations on www.jobbridge.ie.  The scheme is administered by Solas/FAS on behalf of the Dept. of Social Protection.

There is no cost to an employer in providing this internship as the Department would continue to pay the person their social welfare payment plus a weekly top-up of €50 while on the internship. Further details are available on www.jobbridge.ie

  • JobsPlus:

is a new employer incentive which encourages and rewards employers who offer employment opportunities to jobseekers on the Live Register. JobsPlus is a simple scheme for employers to access, offering up to €10,000 for a qualifying recruit, payable on a monthly basis over a two year period. The employment you provide must be for at least 30 hours per week and must span a minimum of 4 days in each week.   More details are on www.jobsplus.ie

  • Free advertising of job vacancies

You can advertise a job vacancy to highly skilled and motivated jobseekers by getting in touch with the National Contact Centre at Freephone 1800 611116.   Alternatively, you can upload the vacancy yourself to the Jobs Ireland website (www.jobsireland.ie) by using this link: www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Register-a-vacancy_holder.aspx  

Other employment supports from the Department of Social Protection:

  • Employer Information Pack:

Available at www.welfare.ie. This provides full details of the supports which are available to employers to recruit staff from the Live Register.

  • Part Time Job Incentive Scheme:

Allows a person who is getting Jobseeker’s Allowance for at least 15 months to take-up part-time employment of less than 24 hours per week and receive a special weekly income supplement of €119 or €193.90 from the Department in addition to their wages.

  • Family Income Supplement:

A weekly tax-free payment available to low paid employees with dependent child/ren.

  • Employee Retention Grant Scheme:

Funding of up to €2,500 to prepare a ‘Retention Strategy’ where an employee acquires an illness or impairment which could affect their continued employability. A further grant of up to €12,500 is available to implement the Retention Strategy.

  • Wage Subsidy Scheme:

Provides financial support of up to €10,748 to employers who employ certain people with disabilities for 21 – 39 hours per week.

  • Workplace/Equipment Adaptation Grant:

A grant towards the cost of adapting premises or buying equipment to accommodate an employee with a disability.

  • Disability Awareness Training Support Scheme:

A training grant of up to €20,000 is available to a company to ensure that its staff provide best service to customers with disabilities and that managers and other staff maximise their working relationships with colleagues with disabilities.

  • Personal Reader Grant:

A grant to employ a Personal Reader for a blind or visually impaired employee who needs help with job-related reading.

  • Job interview Interpreter grant:

Funding for an employee or jobseeker who is deaf, hard of hearing or has a speech impairment for a sign language or other interpreter to attend an interview with the employee or jobseeker.