Community Services Programme

The Community Services Programme (CSP) supports community-based organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model, creating employment opportunities for specific disadvantaged groups and people.

It provides a co-funding contribution towards salary costs of managers and employees in supported organisations. The CSP Interim Programme Manual outlines the basic information in respect of delivering the programme. It provides information on the vision, strategic objectives, three sub-programmes, funding model, rules, and monitoring framework.

The Interim Programme Manual and the Community Services Programme: Operating Manual will assist organisations to understand and implement the programme requirements

The Department and Pobal have been working on the restructuring of the CSP, since the publication of the report on the independent review of the CSP in 2020 by Indecon International Economic Consultants. The redesigned programme was introduced from January 2023 with a new funding rate allocation model, to replace the previous flat rate model.

When determining which rate to apply, information across three distinct components was examined: deprivation (40%), number of CSP supported employees from a pre-defined list of Target Groups (20%) and the Earning Potential of the CSP supported service (40%).

Funding is provided to community organisations as a fixed contribution towards the cost of employing a manager and/or an agreed number of full-time equivalent position (FTEs). The CSP contribution must be co-funded by the organisation concerned from other sources, for example, from income received from the public use of their facilities and services. The CSP contribution is not aligned to the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts.

Applicants must be not-for-profit social enterprises or businesses with sufficient capacity to undertake service delivery and management of staff.

They must also have sufficient financial resources and ability to generate adequate revenue and prepare a business plan.

There are three sub-programmes supported under the new Community Services Programme:

• Sub programme 1 – Spaces & Services
• Sub programme 2 – Supporting Individuals
• Sub Programme 3 – Innovation & Growth.

Further information can be found here and on the Pobal website.

To qualify under the CSP you must be a social enterprise capable to generating income from your service. 70% of employees funded under the programme must be from one of the following groups:

• People who are in the workforce but unemployed and seeking to return to work i.e., people who are in receipt of Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB), Jobseekers Allowance (JA); people who are signing for credits
• Qualified Adults (Adult dependants of those in receipt of social welfare payment)
• People with Disabilities (PWD) i.e. in receipt of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Partial Capacity Benefit, or other disability benefit
• Ex-prisoners or people with a criminal conviction and in contact with the Probation Service
• Migrants
• Refugees
• Asylum Seekers
• Irish Travellers
• Roma
• People coming from a labour activation scheme i.e. Community Employment, TUS, or RSS placements
• One Parent Families (people who parent alone without sufficient resources and are in receipt of social welfare payments)
• People who are deserted, separated, divorced or widowed (People in receipt of Widow/er’s non-contributory pension, surviving Civil Partner’s non-contributory pension, or deserted Wives allowance/benefit)
• Carers (people in receipt of Carers Allowance/Benefit who want to return to the workforce)
• People who are homeless
• Stabilised and recovering drug misusers
• Ukrainians- displaced by the war

Note: In accordance with the 70% Employment Programme Rule, the remaining 30% of the employees supported by the Programme may come from the general population or other target groups

Further information is available on the Pobal website.

Public consultation on the scope of the independent review of the Community Services Programme was conducted during late 2018 and feedback from the submissions received informed the Terms of Reference for the review.

Indecon International Economic Consultants were engaged to carry out the independent review which commenced in March 2019. Indecon undertook extensive stakeholder engagement with CSP supported organisations, CSP supported employees, Government Departments, Agencies and National Community and Voluntary organisations.

The Report sets out eleven key recommendations that the Department and Pobal, who administer the programme on behalf of the Department, are using to assist with the re-structuring of the programme.

Community Services Programme: Annual Reports

On 28 April 2021, the department, in collaboration with the Department of Transport, announced the introduction of a three-year pilot initiative to develop a scheme for the provision of high quality up-cycled bicycles and e-bikes as an alternative to the Cycle to Work Scheme model, for those on low incomes and/or those who are most marginalised and disadvantaged.

A call for applications was launched in May 2021, with funding of €1 million per annum (€3m in total) being provided by the Department of Transport for this initiative, with the funding being made available through my department's Community Services Programme.

Organisations eligible to apply under the pilot were those supported under CSP or alternatively in a Partnership/Consortium of which at least one member was an existing CSP supported organisation.

Out of the fourteen applications received under the pilot initiative, five applications met the qualifying threshold under the eligibility and award criteria. The five applicants approved for support under this pilot initiative are:

• The Rediscovery Centre & Rothar Velo in Dublin 9.
• Frontline Bikes/ Frontline Make Change in Dublin 8.
• Treo Port Lairge CLG (aka Renew Enterprises) in Waterford.
• The Life Cycle Consortium in Galway – Westside Resource Centre and An Mheitheal Rothar.
• Sign & Cycle in Cork – Cork Community Cycles & Deaf Enterprises

Should additional funding be made available for this purpose by the Department of Transport, consideration will be given to extending this initiative, subject to a final review of the pilot and the availability of funding. An interim evaluation of the five approved projects which was carried out during 2023 and is available here.

The CSP is currently not open for new applicants. While there are no further calls for proposals anticipated at this time, the Department can hold contact details on file should the programme open for new applicants in the near future. Contact details for a nominated person can be provided to the email address csp@drcd.gov.ie

More information on the programme can be found here on gov.ie and on the Pobal website.