The Community Employment Scheme (CE) is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. CE placements are intended to be temporary and subject to time limits. This is to ensure the continued availability of places on CE projects for a broad range of long-term unemployed candidates.
CE projects are in diverse areas and include the development, regeneration and enhancement of community spaces, environmental maintenance, early years, and after-school supports, heritage, arts, culture, tourism, sport, recycling and repair of equipment, visitation, friendly call, and befriending programmes for older people.
In response to the recommendations from the Commission on Pensions, a set of new pension measures were approved by Cabinet in September 2022. These included maintaining the State pension age at 66 and the introduction of a new flexible pension model, with effect from January 2024, whereby people have the option to continue working up until the age of 70 in return for a higher pension.
The new measures are specifically for people in standard employment situations and do not apply to State supported schemes like CE, where the participant qualifies due to being on a specific social welfare working age payment in advance of their placement on the scheme.
Accordingly, the position regarding funding for CE participants remains as heretofore. Funding for participants will continue to be available to State Pension Age, which is currently 66.
Should participants wish to continue to work after they reach 66, it is open to them to apply for positions that are not state funded. There may also be the option to continue to support and work with their CE scheme in a voluntary capacity.
