asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties experienced by the unemployed in signing off and signing on when taking up temporary or part-time work; and if he will consider the nomination of an officer at every employment exchange to be responsible for easing these difficulties.
Written Answers. - Unemployment Assistance.
39.
A period of interruption of unemployment for unemployment benefit purposes is 13 weeks and for unemployment assistance is 20 weeks. These periods are extended by a further 12 months where claimants have been participating in training courses or employment projects run by An FÁS.
This means that where a person ceases signing-on for less than whichever of these two periods is appropriate in his or her case, the claim is not broken and, as soon as the claim is renewed, it would be authorised for payment immediately. The only exception to this is where there has been a material change in the person's circumstances since he or she last signed on. For instance, if there was a change in the number of dependants being claimed for, the claim papers would have to be submitted to a deciding officer for rerating. But this is a routine operation which should not involve delay. Where the break of claim is over 13 weeks or 20 weeks, the person's entitlement would need to be determined in the same way as a new claim. For example, where unemployment benefit is concerned, the claim may need to be determined by reference to the number of contributions paid in a different governing contribution year, in which case the deciding officer would need to obtain the new contribution data before he could determine the claim. But in the normal way, any delay involved should be no more than a week or so. In unemployment assistance cases, where a change of means has occurred, the case may need to be referred for reinvestigation but the normal procedure is, pending the outcome of the review, to continue to make payment on the basis of the existing means assessment.
As regards part time employment, where a claimant obtains casual employment of a few days a week, the scheduled payment is adjusted on the spot when he or she attends at the local office.
The arrangements outlined above have operated satisfactorily over the years. The processing of such renewed claims is a regular feature of exchange work and I have no reason for believing that any new procedure of the kind suggested by the Deputy is called for. If the Deputy is aware of any particular problem regarding the processing of the unemployment claims of claimants who secure temporary or part time employment, I would be happy to inquire into them.