Disability Awareness Training Support Scheme

Name of the instrument - Local language: Disability Awareness Training Support Scheme
Name of the instrument - English translation: Disability Awareness Training Support Scheme
Scheme ID: 114
Country: Ireland
Reporting year: 2020
Type of instrument: Grant for companies
Sub-type of instrument: Support for direct costs
Type of entry: Single instrument

Short description: Employers that provide disability awareness training for their staff can apply for the grant. It is implemented by the Regional offices of the Department for Social Protection. The grant covers 90% of the eligible training programme costs (up to a maximum of EUR 20 000 in one calendar year) is available to an organisation for the first year of training; after the first year, 80% of eligible training programmes is covered (to a maximum of EUR 20 000 in one calendar year). The scheme can be used by the same applicant once in each calendar year. There is no preferential treatment.
Short description of the related instruments: Not applicable

Level of operation

National

Name of a part of the country

Not applicable

Name of the region (for regional instruments)

Not applicable

Name of the sector (for sectoral instruments)

Not applicable

Relevance

Further instrument

Legal basis

Under the terms of the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015 and the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 employers are encouraged to initiate "positive action" training that focuses on achieving equality and eliminating discrimination.

Objective(s) and target(s)

To help raise awareness of disability issues in the workplace; disability awareness also addresses the concerns and misconceptions that employers and employees may have about working with disabled people.

Year of implementation

2003

Operation/management

Department of Social Protection. Regional offices of the Department for Social Protection appriase applications for funding and allocate funding accordingly.

Eligible group(s)

Any company that provides disability awareness support for its staff.

Group(s) with preferential treatment

No preferential treatment

Education and training eligible

Training focused on promoting disability awareness.

Source of financing and collection mechanism

Department of Social Protection (Reasonable Accommodation Fund)

Financing formula and allocation mechanisms

Grant assistance of 90% of the eligible training programme costs (up to a maximum of EUR 20 000 in any one calendar year) is available to an organisation for the first year of training; after the first year, 80% of eligible training programmes is covered (to a maximum of EUR 20 000 in any one calendar year). Allocation: Grant is payable to individual employers as reimbursement of the costs. Employer claim form must be accompanied by certificates of attendance. Companies that best meet pre-determined criteria (specified through top down procedures) are funded.

Eligible costs

Fees and other costs related to education and training

Volumes of funding

2018: EUR 20 2142017: EUR 62 275 2016: EUR 9 270

Beneficiaries/take up

Total applications granted under the Disability Awareness Support Scheme: 2018: 5

Organisation responsible for monitoring/evaluation

Department for Social Protection.

Monitoring/evaluation reports available

National Disability Authority (2019), 'Reasonable Accommodations: Obstacles and Opportunities to the Employment of Persons with a Disability' http://nda.ie/Publications/Employment/Employment-Publications/Reasonabl…

Most relevant webpage - in English