IASE NATIONAL DISABILITY POLICY INFORMATION EVENT CLARION HOTEL, LIFFEY VALLEY, DUBLIN WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14TH 2012 DSP Supports for People with Disability & Employers

Context … DSP now has a staffing complement of approximately 7,000 following the merger of the Community Welfare Service and the FÁS Community & Employment Services into the Department in the last year. DSP is now one of the largest public service organisations in the country. Deeply engaged in a process of transformation.

Transformation … Meeting the business requirement to align the DSP, CWS and FÁS regions; The on-going need to manage and deliver the considerable range of programmes and schemes that the Department is now responsible for in an efficient and effective manner; The need to provide a management structure in each region capable of delivering the integration and synergy of the three organisations; The need to maximise the benefit to our customers - whether they be the taxpayer, or the benefit recipient, or those who must be supported back to work.

Broader responsibilities in the disability area Income supports  Disability Allowance  Income disregard  Age issues  Invalidity pension  Interaction with PCB  Illness Benefit  SSP issues  OIB  Partial Capacity  Effectiveness/operational issues

Employment supports EmployAbility  Supported Employment Programme  Wage Subsidy scheme  Reasonable Accommodation Fund  Employee Retention Grant  Workplace Equipment and Adaptation Grant  Personal Reader Grant  Job Interviewer interpreter grant  Disability Awareness Training

Disability Activation Project Phase II – DACT > €7 m. between now and early 2015 Managed by Pobal 14 projects selected across BMW region  4 strands  improving access to employment;  progression for young people with disabilities;  progression for people with an acquired disability;  innovative engagement with employers.

Questions, questions, questions … How do we improve effectiveness of employment supports? How to we fit WSS and Reasonable Accommodation into new DSP structures to ensure better awareness, delivery and value for money? How do we ensure consistency of approach across SUP? (administration, governance, finance etc.) How do we enhance tracking of SUP participants after they leave the programme?

More questions …. How do we enhance PCB take-up and address operational issues? How do we address the issues associated with the DA income disregard? How do we ensure that the outcomes of the DACT are fed into the wider evolving activation agenda? How do we tie in with the engagement with employers – new ‘stakeholders’ for the DSP? How do we ensure effective engagement with stakeholders, including IASE?

So we’re trying to move from ….