Consultation
Public Consultation on the Reasonable Accommodation Fund grants
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Open for submissions from
Submissions closed
Last updated on
Consultation is being reviewed
The consultation has been extended until 5pm Friday 13 May.
The government wants to make sure that people with disabilities who want and are able to work are supported and enabled to do so.
To do this, the government wants to get your views on how to improve how the ‘Reasonable Accommodation Fund’ grants operate. Please send us your views by 5pm Friday 13 May.
Reasonable accommodations promote equality by removing barriers in the workplace. This enables people with disabilities to participate and achieve their full potential at work.
Under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, employers must provide reasonable accommodations to both:
- employment candidates with disabilities
- employees with disabilities
Employers must offer reasonable accommodations unless introducing reasonable accommodations would be a disproportionate burden.
The Reasonable Accommodation Fund (RAF) grants aim to support employers to hire and retain people with disabilities in the private sectors.
We are reviewing how the RAF grants work because of the commitment to review it, as stated in commitment 2.4 of Comprehensive Employment Strategy Action Plan (2019 - 2021). The review aims to find out if the RAF grants are meeting their aims and to help improve how they are working.
The funding the department provides through these grants does not lessen the obligations of employers to provide reasonable accommodations.
The Department of Social Protection invites two main groups of people to share their views by completing the relevant survey below:
- people with disabilities
- employers
We also welcome written submissions from people with disabilities, employers, representative groups and the wider public.
If the online surveys are not accessible to you, you can do one of the following:
- download the survey, print it, and return it to the address below
- email it as an attachment to IDCPolicyConsultation@welfare.ie
- complete the survey with a member of the team over the phone on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10am and 12pm or 2pm and 4pm by calling 0818 607 080
- if you require an Irish Sign Language interpreter to complete the survey over the phone, you can book the Irish Remote Interpreting Service (IRIS) from Sign Language Interpreting Service. Or you can email us with a time and date, and we will arrange to set up the IRIS for you.
People with Disabilities Reasonable Accommodation Fund Survey
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People with Disabilities Reasonable Accommodation Fund Survey (Word)
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Employers Reasonable Accommodation Fund Survey
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Employers Reasonable Accommodation Fund Survey (Word)
DownloadIf you want to write a submission, you can send it by post or email (addresses below). Please put “RAF Consultation” in the subject line.
Before making any submission, it is important to read the privacy information below and the guidance document as your submission may be published on gov.ie.
The Department of Social Protection will review all the responses when considering how best to reform the Reasonable Accommodation Fund grants.
We will use the responses to see if the grants are meeting their aims. We will use the recommendations about changes or new provisions to inform how the Reasonable Accommodation Fund grants work in the future.
All survey responses are completely anonymous, so no one can identify you. However, if you are making a written submission, please read the privacy information below.
We will publish a report on the consultation on gov.ie with a summary of the written submissions and survey results.
This is a public consultation, and the Freedom of Information Act 2014 applies. This means that written submissions may be published by the Department of Social Protection in full. We ask you to please read our Privacy Statement.
To help us protect your privacy, we ask you not to provide information that is:
- personal
- commercially sensitive
- anything which you would not want made public
(Commercially sensitive information include information on pricing, profits, new ideas or sensitive industry knowledge.)
However, if you do provide commercially sensitive information, please
clearly identify the material, and tell us:
- why it is commercially sensitive
- why it should not be published or made available under the Freedom of Information Act
We may receive a request to release a submission under the Freedom of Information Act, and be required to release it.
In these cases, we will consult with you about the information that is personal or identified as commercially sensitive. We will do this before we decide to:
- release the submission – in full
- release part of the submission (certain details will be blacked out so they can’t be read)
- not release the submission
We will keep submissions until the review process including implementation of any accepted recommendations has finished.
All responses to this consultation are subject to:
The deadline to send your survey or submission is 5pm on Friday 13 May.
Reasonable Accommodation Fund Review
Address:
lllness, Disability and Carers Policy Unit, Floor Four, Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, Dublin 1, D01 WY03
Phone number:
Review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund (RAF) Written Submission Guidance Note
Review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund (RAF) Guidance Note
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Reasonable Accommodation Fund Review: Easy to Read
Reasonable Accommodation Fund Review: Easy to Read
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