What is the Pathways to Work Strategy?

The Government announced on the 12th July 2021 a new Pathways to Work Strategy 2021-2025 aimed to decrease the number of long-term unemployed people in Ireland, which is currently around 75,000 people. They also plan to reduce the youth unemployment rate from 44% to 12.5% within the next 2 years.

The Pathways to Work Strategy aims to provide 50,000 places with training providers and further education settings, 10,000 apprenticeships and 1,000 places on Community Employment and Tús programmes.

Within this, the government stated that the apprenticeships will be a part of the Work Placement Experience Programme. Participants within this scheme will be paid a weekly figure of €306, with the possibility of
additional amounts payable in respect of dependent adults or children. Of the 10,000 apprenticeships available, 4,000 will be reserved for young people.

Furthermore, a grant of €1,000 Training Support Grant will be made available to those starting with training providers, such as Aspire Training, or other further education settings. Individuals who have been in receipt of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will not be exempt from this grant, meaning they too can avail of this grant. Grants and funding are already available from local Department of Social Protection offices, depending on an individuals circumstances and the newly announced Training Support Grant will be the same.

This strategy seeks to benefit those who have been unemployed for at least 6 months and plans exceed pre-COVID employment levels by reaching 2.5 million people employed by 2024.

Minister for social protection, Heather Humphreys stated that,
“It’s about leaving nobody behind, providing new opportunities to retrain and re-skill and, above all, giving people the support they need to secure quality, sustainable employment. Through this ambitious new strategy, we will support people in every way possible, helping them to start, or restart their careers and improve their quality of life.”

If you want to read more about this new Pathways to Work Strategy 2021-2025, you can do so here or search for courses and programmes that you are interested in below.