We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
YOU’D HAVE TO wonder the point of the Government’s Tús Initiative. In the four years since the scheme’s inception, over 30,000 long-term unemployed people have been placed on Tús. If the point of Tús is, as stated by the Department of Social Protection, “to increase individuals’ work readiness”, then shouldn’t the Department be very interested in knowing if it is actually doing that?
When asked last week how many people coming off Tús go on to full-time employment, a spokesperson for the Department replied: “No stats are available. Tús (schemes) are considered ‘work progression schemes’; their object is to increase individuals’ work readiness, to improve their skill-set and to provide short-term quality and suitable working opportunities for people who are long-term unemployed.”
Launched in 2010, Tús’ stated aims are “to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed and provide certain services of benefit to communities”. Long-term unemployed (12 months or more) are required to take up work opportunities such as the offer of a Tús work placement. If they refuse a work opportunity without good reason, they may have their social welfare payment “reduced or terminated”.
What are the implications?
If you’re on a Tús scheme, you work 19.5 hours a week and are rewarded with €19 on top of your dole. At the end of the 12 month course, you go back on the Live Register.
Here’s my question: why wouldn’t the Department keep Tús statistics?
Could that be because Tús is actually something other than it claims to be on the tin? If that is the case, then what might it be?
Is it a sort of dole-shaming for the long-term unemployed? Is it targeted specifically at the fabled dole-cheats who, pub experts will tell you, have been playing the system for generations?
Is it workfare, a way for community and voluntary organisations (and private enterprises like sports clubs, too) to benefit from free labour?
Is it possibly even an unsubtle message to employees subsisting on minimum wage to not get too bolshy as they can always be replaced by the lads on the chain-gang?
Simply put, is Tús yet another kick against those who have suffered the most in the bust and benefited the least from the boom?
Or, and I’m not saying this suggestion negates any of those other possibilities, could it be Tús is a complete con-job, one of the many ways in which we adjust the Live Register figures to hide our true rate of unemployment?
Benefits of work schemes
I met recently with ‘Liam’, a Tús supervisor, and asked whether he feels Tús drives down the value of work and undermines those at the lower end of the wage scale. He said no; he feels the primary concern should be whether being on Tús offers real benefits to the individual concerned and he feels strongly that for most people it does.
I asked whether Tús specifically targets those who are suspected of abusing the Social Protection system. Not so. The selection process is, according to Liam, completely random.
When I asked whether Liam agreed that Tús and related schemes exist mainly to massage the Live Register figures, he sighed. He took a moment and then said he reckons if you cut through the smoke and mirrors, our real rate of unemployment is not the 13% we’re telling the world, or even the 23% the OECD has claimed we’re hiding, but rather if you include everyone on Tús and all the other schemes and those signing part-time, it’s nearer to 27 or 28%.
If things really are that bad, I asked Liam, imagine you’re Joan Burton, given a blank chequebook and an army of eager officials. All the resources you need to fix this. Where do you begin?
“It’s not that simple. Where are the jobs going to come from? Where’s the infrastructure? We’ve given away our resources and decimated our native industries. We’ve built our economy on our corporation tax and bookkeeping tricks. What happens if that falls apart? We’ve used emigration as a pressure valve. What happens if the illegals are kicked out of the US and Australia?”
‘Juking the stats’
I tell Liam that Tús and its related scams remind me of the premise of the TV series The Wire, a broken system self-perpetuating an unbreakable cycle, where even those with the best will in the world can only tinker around the edges; the notion that all human systems can be cheated, the parameters altered to adjust the result. On The Wire, they called it “juking the stats”.
He agrees with my suggestion but, despite everything, says he does see hope within Tús. He seems genuinely delighted at some of the successes he says he has had with people who were re-introduced into the workplace.
“You can say it’s only tinkering around the edges, but I’ve seen the faces of real people, people who had given up on themselves, who’ve got something from being on a Tús scheme. A sense of purpose, a sense of pride in yourself. If nothing else, giving someone a bit of hope. To my mind, that’s a real success story.”
I know it’s churlish to disagree with his very obvious decency, but I am struck that when those real people are back on the Live Register for six or 12 months, with absolutely no prospect of a proper job, then the small human victory of Liam’s real success stories will seem very small indeed.
After all, if the Department of Social Protection can’t even be bothered pretending that Tús makes a blind bit of difference to long-term unemployment, then what hope is there for someone settling back into life on the dole again?
Donal O’Keeffe is a writer, artist and columnist for TheJournal.ie. He tweets as @Donal_OKeeffe.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
€19 wouldn’t cover most peoples travel to and from the workplace…complete exploitation and falsifying of unemployment figures
Tus has been good for me. Got me off my Ass, although my problems weren’t with work, per say, more a lack of confidence, & feelings of not being good enough for a job. Suffered from a serious bout of Depression a few years back, that just knocked the stuffing out of me. You can start to feel like society gets on just fine without you, so just keep your head down, don’t get involved, its basically mental illness. So three of us drive around the locality now, cut grass, strim hedges, pick up litter, paint bridges, mark out football pitches in the Sunshine.
In reality its only 12 hrs work per week, we have plenty of equipment to do our work, & are well looked after with water, boots, hi viz jackets, etc. For me its been great, i needed that phone call, i needed that start. It gave me that.
Great to hear Dave. Keep up the good work. The satisfaction of physical work is great, isn’t it. Do they stop you from using the gear to go do work when they have none for you? Like, if you were so inclined, could you go do random work to tidy up your community when they have none for you, or does it all have to be instructed by them etc so your not taking someone else’s job. Great to hear you’re getting something out of it. It makes such a difference from all the other comments which tend to be so negative and critical of absolutely everything that goes on in our fair land. Your positive outlook is so refreshing. Literally, it was like that feeling you get when you jump into the lovely cold sea after melting in the sun for a few hours. You’ve reconnected me to why I love Ireland and the Irish so much. Job well done ;)
From a fellow mental health sufferer, congratulations Dave…great to hear a positive experience they just seem few and far between
Delighted to hear your story Dave as my circumstances were the same until Tus contacted me. My job placement is helping me confront my fears and feel confident again. Best wishes to you with your placement.
Davey
You are a perfect example of why we should be offering a (strictly voluntary) Job Guarantee, working in the community/charity sector, full time, at minimum wage (to avoid ‘competing’ with normal public or private sector jobs).
The stimulus effect of JG workers’ collective spending of wages will also drive the economy back to (near) full emplyment.
One workers spending is another worker’s job, and vice versa. The MACRO economy is CIRCULAR, not LINEAR (like a ‘household’).
All that is needed to maintain (near) full emplyment is for government to make good the shortfall when private sector investment fails to be sufficient to employ enough people, as happens CYCLICALLY in the economy which is a DYNAMIC system, never in or approaching some ‘equilibrium’ (‘Equilibrium’ that the clueless muppets like McHale, McCarthy etc. were ‘educated’ to think, even whilst their mainstream thinking has plainly no basis in reality.).
And, if or when, the private sector overheats, as it will, cyclically, which can cause inflation, then it is the government’s job to tax away the excess money/demand in the area(s) of the economy affected, in a timely fashion.
It really isn’t hard to do this if we actually had some +macro+ economists worth more than a piece of canine excrement.
Even if we pretend the need for governments to ‘borrow’ in a FIAT currency in order to spend, and thus gift ‘interest’ to the wealthy Capital owners (for nothing), a non-usurious rate is +always+ sustainable. And as the economy always grows, and there is +never+ a shortage of wealthy Capital owners who will take fully guaranteed, interest paying DEPOSIT FACILITY (it’s not really ‘lending’ any more that your current account is), the ‘prinicipal’ is never paid back in real terms, merely rolled over. (Exactly as the data shows.)
good for you, its great that you were able to see the benefits to you personally. it is not an anathema to all of societies ills but it sure will help keep the oul head straight for some.
@The Todd: Tommy here I was put on TUS What a waist of time we only swipe the streets and empty the bins (Coperation Job) If you can read or write stay well clear if you can.
Wonderful legacy Labor are leaving, the ‘socialist’ party that made the minimum wage meaningless.
Never even heard of tus, I fully support anything that helps people get back on the path to work, but it just seems this government of our just love Micky mouse schemes to massage the figures, tus, jobs bridge and now jobs path,
If anything those schemes make people less likely to get a real job because it gives employers a way to take on entry level staff at less then minimum wage.
Ok just to give you guys an idea of how inept the social services and government schemes are in this country . I was let go from my job in 2012 . Not a job I liked or wanted to do but it was a job and I wasn’t complaing , when I was let go I decided enough was enough and decided I really wanted to get back into what has always been my biggest passion Game Development . I started developing on the commodre 64 all them years ago and always did some hobbiest work and helped out various studios over the years . Anyway I decided that as much as I though I know I wanted to expand what expertise I had and of course the expertise I lacked by going to college to learn more and fine tune what I had experience in such as programming more efficiently , learn more about level design and new 3D modeling techniques, and of course to achieve qualification papers that I didn’t have. I managed to secure a place in a college for a year on the momentum course after a very though time trying to convince the social welfare that this was something I really wanted to do and had to get two large studios in the states to give me letters of recommendation to show my previous work and involvement. So anyway , I got on the course in Dublin city centre traveling from Portlaoise every day of the week and putting the children into childcare , for taking the initiative and not sitting on my back side and taking the cost of traveling and child care into account to do this course I was basically struggling so the social welfare decided to cut my payments from 180 a week to 50 a week due to me “going to a college we are paying for ” it was a disaster but I some how prevailed. After a long year and a lot of sleepless night I passed the course with the best results in the college excelling in ever single module . So when the course finished I tried to sort out the payments and they stuck to the 50 euro stance . So I have motored on trying to do some work which is basically free and set up my own studio , now as you can imagine games take a long time to produce so since that day I have published one free game and am working on the second which I hope to start generating money from at the end of the year and my business plan has 3 games to be on the market by next summer which will provide me with a wage and hopefully be able to offer full time employment to 1 person , not a great plan but its achievable and we have to start somewhere right . Anyway when I presented the palms to Fas or whatever it was they were very impressed and told me to go on the back to work scheme for two years while I get the business up and running , they signed the papers off but the social blocked it saying I was not suitable for the project due to the nature of the industry and my age 32 . So I just ploughed on and continued and have had luckly the use of the college for certain things mainly hardware for animation etc that I simply cant afford . So when the social quizzed me on what I was doing in a meeting they said I did not have permission to go into the college and work and I have to stop going in or my payments would be stoped so I did . But I continued to set up the company and develop games going to meeting etc etc and trying to get help with advertising and involvement from Microsoft which they are more than happy to help out , but I missed a sign on day recently and when I went down and was quizzed. Again this time they told me I have no permission to keep developing and I need to go on a jobbridge … What was I offered , taken my background in the tech industry and previously being an plumber in a previous life they offered me a job basically stacking shelves in a supermarket . Of course I said no , I mean the majority of the guys and girls from the course are doing there own thing with support and on the back to work scheme even some who failed the course , anyway they have cut off my payments now . I went to college they put me on the course ( after begging from me I guess ) there is a potential for a new business being set up locally here that could within 12 months offer employment albeit to maybe 1 person , and more importantly I will not be claiming social welfare and ill be another “success story on reducing the unemployment numbers” . But no they in there wisdom think ill be Better off stacking shelves . I am going to continue to develop regardless of what they do and if it fails then it fails but I’m the one taking the risk not them , people are doing noting to get to work have no interest and are getting 180 per week , the system is a failure it does not work and basically I’m left with not a cent due to my age which is discrimination there are more 30+ year olds in game development than in younger brackets . I have been offered work in the states on more than one occasion even previous to getting the qualification but I cannot move abroad with the family and having a mortgage etc etc its just not possible , I even showed the social these job offers to prove I am serious about what I’m doing and they basically said well go to America and don’t bother us anymore . I’ll not give up until I give it a shot and it fails at least I will have tried and then basically. The pane abroad is my only option , I know there are many many like me being put in this situation
Best of luck, keep it up
Yeah keep going any way you can. The social welfare system is so focused on stopping people abusing the system that it can become a block to work. I know one guy who got offered 10 hrs a week paid doing deliveries. As it was 2 hrs a day he would have got no social payment so couldn’t take it. He was devastated. He just thought he was getting his “chance”. Anyways keep going!
Best of luck in your venture. Try local enterprise board for some start up money snd business support.
Im on a TUS scheme, and I do more than 19.5 hours a week, because I love what my placement is and what I do. I was only on the dole just barely going over 12 months and was delighted to be selected at least. I was only on 100pw as I’m under 25 and now I get 208 because I’m on this scheme. I will get brilliant references out of it and a great deal of experience to go along with it but I may be one of the only few who do as most people who are put on this scheme mainly get put in an office to do basic admin work or just end up bring a caretaker. It needs more planning and smarter people to run the whole thing as the current system is very flawed.
Why is the selection process random? If we’re talking about a score difference in pay then surely getting a letter about it would be as welcome as getting a bill, or jury duty.
This makes sense if you consider it as a way of conveyor-belting workers through 12 months cheap labour and moving on to the next batch, however.
Also the type of work is random…I’m a community worker and we’ve had people sent to the organisation which have no interest in the work we do, if they hate this type work, especially when working with vulnerable people, they can do more harm than good.
You take the scheme as it is and you can either love it or hate it. I finished my 12 months placement in July and was lucky in where I got. The extra €20 per week turned out to be -€10 a week due to contributions but like Davey previously said it got me off my arse. I got to meet new people,learned to love my job and saved money because I wasn’t at home to use electricity. Throughout the year I got my safe pass,”the vital” manual handling and refreshed on 1st aid training. All the while meeting other people on Tùs who were seeing the benefits to it. And before anyone says it no I’m not straight back on the dole. I was fortunate to be taken on full time. You can make what you want of the placement either waste the year or dust off the cobwebs and get back out there.
I got relief work after working with Tus It totally has changed my life around
In rural areas Tus and RSS schemes add a valuable contribution to helping local communities like Tidy Towns in keeping towns and villages tidy and maintained where councils no longer occupy a role.
Great, so let’s make it a VOLUNTARY full time, minimum wage offer to ‘help out’ in our communities doing jobs we cannot normally justify the expense of (ie not substituting for normal public sector maintenance jobs) ??
Give the unemployed +an offer+ of at least the dignity & security of a minimum wage job, whilst they wait for the economy to grow & offer them something better…. An offer which will likely come along all the quicker as such ‘Job Guarantee’ workers’ spending of their wages encourages greater economic activity from businesses & hence more ‘normal’ sector jobs… to which the JG workers will migrate (providing they pay above minimum wage).
There is not the slightest need for there EVER to be mass unemployment.
It is a purely POLITICAL choice supported by the IGNORANCE of 50 years of MAINSTREAM ECONOMICS thinking paid for by the Bankers & other ruling elites of the Capital owning classes.
As the last 10years have shown us, the SYSTEM is NOT OPERATED in the interests of the MAJORITY, rather by and for the elites. IT CAN BE OPERATED DIFFERENTLY, IN CITIZENS’ INTERESTS.
Educate yourselves and break the brainwashing you have received from the elites who own & run the mainstream media and education.
Did you all receive an education in how the MACRO economy works? NO!
Did you all receive an education in how the Banking & Money system works? Where MONEY comes from? NO!
Ask yourselves…. WHY NOT?
How can you properly excercise your DEMOCRATIC right if you do not know how the MACRO economy AS A WHOLE functions?? Answer… YOU CAN’T….. and DON’T…. exactly as intended by those who run it in THEIR tiny MINORITY INTERESTS.
Im 23 have been on a tus scheme with a drama group the last year i finish tomoro i had been involved in the youth theatre for 14 years started of as a member and then i started volunteering doing admin things. I am still going to volunteer and hopefully get a few hours pay. I wish the tus scheme was more than a year long though i think it was great for me.
WTF???
Job Seeker’s Allowance… Job Seeker’s Benefit… Back to Education Scheme… Community Employment Scheme… Internship… Job Bridge… Gateway… FAS… Intreo… Solas… & now Job Path (privatisation of Social Welfare)… Anyone confused yet? These are the number of Quangos that the Irish Government has set up for what we commonly call “the Dole” & they are all just different ways of “juking the stats”
If you have benefitted least in the boom how can you have suffered most in the bust?
If you’ve been unemployed during the boom and then during the bust, your circumstances are, in fact, unchanged.
In fact you belong to probably the only sector of Irish society that has been spared cuts to their income.
Now the government is trying to help you find work and you think it’s exploitation?
Get over yourself and join the rest of us that dont get free money handed to us and have to go out and earn it
Look, it’s simple, get a job, there’s loads goin on now, long term unemployment shouldn’t be long term these days, you’re out of the unemployed loop, the courses you must attend, the means testing, the “exploitation” with the sham schemes, self worth on the ground, with employment all that is history, and you walk 2 feet taller and feel good about yourself, just get work, any job to start with, , because when you’re in work, you get work.
‘because when you’re in work, you get work.’
and when you’re not you have to put up with the kind of drivel you have in your post. depressing stuff. by the way, are you on tus? if you aren’t you should be. it might improve the content of your posts
Nope not in “Tùs” ,im in a job because when I was out of a job, I had to attend these courses and means testing visits, etc, which were absolutely hellish, the only way out is get a job, what’s so complicated about that? more depressing is that you actually sound like you’ve given up, but thanks for the reply, and good luck in your future endeavours,
Very hard to read and understand your message because of your terrible punctuation and grammar. However, I think you are saying that everyone can just walk into a job if they want
Lot’s of intelligent, qualified people suffer with mental illness which prevents their career and life progression. You can’t judge them and say “just go get a job”. It’s not that simple. Please consider this before judging and dictating.
I bin on da social since 1992 when i had me first babby, no way im comin of it
jacinthas report
must troll harder
The local tourism board in Tramore have been using Tus workers to do jobs around the town, painting and the like. Not sure if they do other work that would benefit them and allow them be more skilled and ready for the workforce should a job appear.
I suppose the question is what do we do to encourage and get people that are long term unemployed back working again. Let them sit on social welfare for all eternity and the state shrug it’s shoulders? Have them do work in the community? There are various educational courses that you can partake in, some of which are very interesting and I can see being a huge help. What exactly can we do to encourage and help the unemployed?
The state can only provide the right environment to encourage job creation. Personally, I thought Job Bridge makes more sense than the Tus scheme. It’s open to abuse, but there are genuine and real opportunities within. If I keep getting told that I don’t have enough experience (and in my job searching so far, I have. Despite running two businesses for the bones of eight years and doing Door to Door sales for just under a year with two large companies – some retailers claim I don’t have enough experience to sell mobile phones!) and if there is a scheme that allows me to further develop my skills – great!
My understanding was that the unemployment figures aren’t massaged as much as claimed. There counted in employment figures but there are only 5,000 of them at any one time; they are also included on the unemployed register and there would be no income tax revenue from them. But income tax is up which seems to backup the claim of our unemployment figure.
No, the question is NOT “…what do we do to encourage long term unemployed back to work…”
The question is WHEN is the government going to MANAGE the ECONOMY such that there ARE ENOUGH JOBS AVAILABLE for CITIZENS.
End of EFFIN STORY.
Check this out for a constructive alternative: http://www.basicincomeireland.com
Dublin Johnny, you seem to think the rest of us and the country have the time and money to look after you as an individual when you’re ‘living the dream’. Go learn how to stack some shelves and once you have accomplished this learn how to save a few quid and then waste ur own money for the next few years tryjng to make something work. When there are hundreds and thousands on welfare do you expect everyone to get special treatment? Life isnt a holiday! Go work in America for a year and make some money then come back and make ur million on your own back ….not the tax payers! And dont be afraid to come back to Journal when youve made ur million!
Tractor1000, surely it’d be more beneficial to the country to have a person setting up a viable business over the course of two years with the possibility of employing other people than it would be to have him stacking shelves for two years? The taxpayer pays the same for either option but one of them has created several jobs while the other serves to massage unemployment figures for a brief period of time.
Ps. Its not the unemployed that have destroyed this country, get that idea out of your head.
That’s amazing tractor1000 , I’m not living any dream , or nor am I looking for any special treatment , firstly the momentum courses exist for the sole purpose of creating industries within this country that the government want to see investment in . There are no jobs in this country in the gaming industry and a vast amount of tech industries that we have the qualifications for in this country . When in the college we were visited by not just the social welfare reps. From Dublin but reps. From various government departments with a huge emphasis on us creating companies and trying to bring business into this country from one of the largest multi billion dollar enterprises that exit on the planet , almost every country in Europe have a huge part in this industry except our own . Every single person who had any interest in the course while doing it are being wrapped up in bubble wrap and almost handed everything on a plate with payments , enterprise centre help and workshops some being given tickets to travel abroad to tech shows . Im not asking for any of that , All I wanted was to be put on the back to work scheme , something I was offered. By Fas (or what ever it is named now) was told by the social welfare in Dublin to do and encouraged for an entire year to do , including the head of the momentum course initiative which is a branch of the social welfare system . I have been told No for being 32 not for lack of experience not for the lack of qualifications or a bad business plan simply because I’m 32 . If I was in a Dublin social welfare area I would be on the back to work scheme , they people I delt with in Dublin appealed on my behalf to be put on the scheme , and trust me almost anyone can go on it with ao much as half a crazy idea, they don’t care as long as it take them off the live registrar. It not a dream or about making millions its about setting up a viable business , you are paying for nothing my friend I worked all my life paying taxes and I will easily have any argument over how much I have contributed to the kitty over the years . Its not any sense of entitlement on my behalf its simply be giving the same opportunity’s as every one else regardless of my age . How messed up this is , I contact my office here and they tell me there is something wrong so contact Kilkenny and get it sorted out there is nothing we can do about the decision but I should be ok and get it sorted with the people in Kilkenny , when I contact them they say the same thing and say it has to be done at the local branch , Fas say I should have been done when they give the clearance , my point was not to say boo boo I’m very happy with my life and have cautious Optimism that with hard work I can make a viable business from this , I’m simply pointing out the social welfare and enterprise schemes are a shambles , departments do not work together , they have a complete set of different. Guidelines and in the case here , have different guidelines from branch to branch , office to office , so please spare me the high horse tripe
scambridge.ie
…
You are an innocent abroad! Does your mammy know you’re out Donal? The reason for the scheme is to take 30 odd thousand off the live register. Give hat child a box of sweets!
Here’s my take on the effective live register figures http://brennaneire.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/unemployment-what-are-the-true-figures/
It’s not ‘free labour’ as individuals are already being paid dole which is funded by the tax payer.
Yes it is a form of workfare, shame is workfare isn’t compulsory, as in other counties, as paying people to do nothing benefits neither the society nor the individual.
Every able bodied person claiming for more than two or three years, or those who have never contibuted a cent in PRSI should be on a TUS scheme.
TUS is perfect for school leavers who dont go into employment or education
Stephen a few years ago I and other would have maybe agreed with you to a point , but the facts are plain and simple for all to see , schemes like this offer no real net benefit to the state or to the people , obviously in cases like Daves above it has been beneficial but overall that attitude you present is simply wrong. We believe it or not have a very skilled work for due to our education system we have highly skilled and highly motivated people available within our work force and college graduates . These schemes are counter productive for all concerned on this Island .
We’ve a whole front garden and rear lawn to do, lot of work so I’ll have to get someone in to help, now if I got a landscaper in it would be about 200 euro minimum, if I got one of my friends from horticulture college to help I could pay them about half that but thankfully I’ve got Stephan here who thinks less then one euro an hour is a fair rate of pay and of course is not a total hypocrite who wouldn’t himself be unwilling to work of less then a euro an hour.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
Non-TCF/GVL Vendors
have your say