asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will abolish the present signing on practice required of unemployed persons before they are entitled to receive either unemployment benefit or assistance given that this condition does not eliminate abuse of the welfare system and that it is a degrading way to treat unemployed persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Signing Arrangements for Unemployed Persons.
43.
The current signing arrangements for unemployed persons are governed by statutory regulations which provide that claimants for unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance must sign the unemployed register to indicate that they are available for and genuinely seeking work. Claimants who reside within six miles of a local office of my Department are required to present themselves there to sign the register at least once weekly to prove unemployment. In the majority of cases, persons attending at local offices now do so once weekly.
Claimants who reside over six miles from the local office are required to attend at their local Garda station or other approved signing centre once a week to have their unemployment declarations certified by a member of the Garda Síochána. These claimants are paid at their local post office.
The signing arrangements, therefore, are designed primarily as a control mechanism and to enable claimants to indicate in person and in the presence of a witness the days on which they were unemployed each week so that their payments can be computed correctly.
I agree that with the passage of time there is need to look again at signing arrangements and consider whether it might be appropriate to introduce a more selective approach to the method of signing. However, payment to persons who attend at the local office for signing purposes is made there and then in cash in the vast majority of cases. As long as this system continues to operate, attendance at the local office on a weekly basis is necessary in any event to enable weekly payments to be made to this category of claimant. The introduction of alternative paying methods requires the computerisation of local office procedures. This process is proceeding but in view of the number of offices involved it will take some time to complete. As this progresses it will open up the possibility of providing more flexible payment methods and, consequently, more flexible signing arrangements. There will still be a need to exercise proper control over the schemes, however, so the likelihood is that the present signing arrangements could be modified in certain cases and be replaced by more systematic and selective reviews of claims.
I do not accept that requiring unemployed people to sign is in itself degrading. There will always be a need for unemployed people generally to prove their unemployment. Among the ways that this can be done is by presenting themselves at a local office or signing centre periodically for the purpose of making declarations in person in respect of their unemployment and I believe this is generally acceptable. I am anxious, however, to bring about a situation whereby those who attend at a local office can have the option of being paid by means other than by cash and this is being pursued as part of the programme for computerisation of the employment exchanges.
Would the Minister not agree that it is degrading for one sector of the community to be treated differently to another? I am not objecting to the fact that somebody has to sign their name but rather at the public way in which they have do do so. Would the Minister not agree that the facilities provided in some parts of the country are so appalling, that having to queue for long periods of time on a street is an awful way to treat unemployed people? Would he agree that a short-term measure to alleviate this problem would be to allow persons who select an alternative payment structure such as payment by electronic fund transfer to have the option of signing something and returning it in the post and not having to appear at an employment exchange? Would the Minister not agree that the amount of resources used, by way of manpower in the Department of Social Welfare and the Garda Síochána, is wasted by using the present procedure? Would the Minister also not agree that it does not act as a barrier against fraud and that a much more effective way to eliminate fraud would be selective, on-the-spot checks of employers in particular and some of the unemployed?
As the system is developed and the controls improve, as is happening very rapidly at this stage, it will be possible to have more selective signing on. I think that will meet most of what the Deputy has in mind. The Deputy will appreciate that it is necessary to have cases reviewed and to have some mechanism for dealing with that. I agree with her to that extent. As the Deputy knows I am introducing a special arrangement for those over 60 which means that they will not have to sign. I know that the previous Government — and I supported them in this — wanted to have more flexible arrangements for those over 55. This is the approach we are taking. It is tied into the control and extent of the review and the organisation of the system but I believe a good deal of development can take place in that direction.
Naturally I would be very anxious to improve the facilities and I will do what I can in that respect.