Penalties warning over failure to upload CVs

Young unemployed people who fail to upload their CVs to designated job websites could be hit with financial penalties, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has warned.

The measures, which will only be used in extreme cases, come on top of a crackdown which threatens people who refuse training or intern places having their benefits cut.

Launching the Youth Guarantee scheme which promises people under 25 work, or an education or training offer within four months of hitting the dole queue, Ms Burton said that weekly payments for those who repeatedly fail to engage with the scheme could be cut as a result.

Fianna Fáil’s social protection spokesman Willie O’Dea dismissed the plan as an “empty exercise in spin”.

“One of the central planks of implementing the Youth Guarantee is having Intreo; which is a new one-stop-shop for the unemployed where they can receive information on retraining and employment services, offices established in towns and cities all over the country.

“For instance, Cork City has no Intreo office; how can the Government pledge to implement the Youth Guarantee with such a major part of this plan incomplete?” Mr O’Dea said.

Sinn Féin also criticised the Government’s approach to mass youth unemployment.

Ms Burton said the Youth Guarantee scheme would be operational by the end of next year.and would be a permanent fixture of welfare-to-work structure.