As and from December 1st, the Work Placement Programme has been extended to include businesses with less than ten employees.
Small businesses can now apply to participate in the Work Placement Programme which provides 9 months work experience for unemployed individuals while they continue to maintain their social welfare entitlements.
The key changes announced on November 13th relate to eligibility criteria. The period, for which participants have to be in receipt of a social welfare payment has been reduced from 6 to 3 months. Those not eligible for a payment are also now eligible to apply.
Previously, firms could only participate if they did not have redundancies in the previous 6 months. This constraint has been reduced to 3 months. However, if the level of redundancies in the last three months were less than 5% of the workforce, these firms will be eligible to particpate.
FAS will continue to manage the Work Placement Programme and interested parties should revert to the FAS website, www.fas.ie for further information of their local FAS Employment Servcies office (Mullingar 044-9334550 ; Athlone 09064-73499) or alternatively they can call the FAS freephone number 1800 611 116.
Providers must confirm that their company is fully compliant with current workplace health and safety and all other legal requirements.