Hogan announces Eur 47.7 Million for the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) in 2014

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan T.D., today (10/12/2013) announced the allocation for the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) in 2014 of €47.7 Million; making the announcement Minister Hogan said “this will enable 44,000 people to engage through one-to-one interventions in 2014 to assist them in returning to employment, it will also sustain 650 jobs in Local Development Companies, providing services to communities”.

The LCDP tackles poverty and social exclusion in disadvantaged communities and is a key tool of Government in providing supports for the ‘harder to reach’ in the most disadvantaged areas in society. The scheme assists people in training and re-skilling in order to re-enter the workforce. It is a locally accessible, frontline intervention, supporting disadvantaged communities.

“We operate in an environment of shrinking resources; nevertheless we must continue to do more with less. I want to see Local Development Company’s maintain key services and supports through prioritising resources at the front-line. There is an onus on all groups to strive to improve service delivery and to do so at a significantly reduced cost to the public purse”, said the minister.

The current LCDP comes to an end at the end of 2013. A successor programme to the LCDP is currently being designed based on; inter alia, the main findings of the Mid-Term Review of the Programme.

To facilitate the redesign of the programme and to allow for the establishment of the Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) in line with enhancing the role of local government in local and community development, transitional arrangements will apply for the first six months of 2014, which will entail the current LCDP framework being extended to 30^th June 2014, on the same basis as the present arrangement. From 1 July 2014 the LCDCs will have oversight and management of the LCDP, based on the current programme framework.  A new programme will roll out, through the LCDCs, from January 2015.

“I am pleased to have been able to provide a significant level of funding that will support local communities in these difficult economic times for the country” said Minister Hogan.

Extra Information

The LCDP is 100% exchequer funded.

44,000 persons are set for engagement through one-to-one LCDP interventions in 2013; at the end of Q3 almost 33,000 or 75% of target was reached. Similarly at the end of Q3:

• Over 8,000 individuals are participating in education;
• Almost 11,000 individuals are participating in labour market training;
• Over 4,000 individuals have progressed into employment/self-employment.
• Other services delivered through the LCDP included outreach programmes and advice/guidance actions where persons are signposted to other services and activities.

The LCDP is underpinned by four high level goals:

• To promote awareness, knowledge and uptake of a wide range of statutory, voluntary and community services;
• To increase access to formal and informal educational, recreational and cultural development activities and resources;
• To increase peoples’ work readiness and employment prospects; and
• To promote engagement with policy, practice and decision making processes on matters affecting local communities.

The objectives of the LCDP include the following:

• Develop and sustain a range of services to support, prepare and assist people to enter the Labour Market;
• Develop and sustain strategies with local enterprises to increase local employment prospects;
• Develop and sustain strategies to increase local self-employment prospects.