Measures to curb long-term welfare reliance

PEOPLE who are jobless for long periods are to be coaxed back into education, training and the workplace through a range of measures designed to discourage long-term dependency on welfare.

The National Development Plan (NDP) provides funding to back a plan announced late last year by Employment Minister Micheal Martin and Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan to get more than 50,000 people on welfare into employment by 2013.

That represents just 20% of people in the 16-65 age group receiving long-term welfare payments. It will cost some €50 million to implement the measures which will be a mix of incentives, such as more accessible and suitable retraining schemes, and sanctions such as cutting of payments for people who are able to cooperate but refuse to do so.