Vol. 405 No. 4
97 Mr. Stafford asked the Minister for Social Welfare if, having regard to the recent announcement by An Post regarding its network of sub-post offices, he will proceed further with the modernisation of payment methods to social welfare clients, including more flexible methods of payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am committed to providing social welfare clients with as wide a range of payment options as possible. My Department already use a variety of payment methods — cash, cheque and personalised payable order (PPO) — to pay social welfare clients.
At present, these payment methods are related to specific schemes. For example, people in receipt of a pension or child benefit are paid by order book at post offices while disability benefit recipients are paid by cheque delivered to their homes. Unemployed persons are normally paid in cash at local offices of the Department and post offices around the country. In addition unemployed persons aged over 60 can receive their unemployment payments by means of an order book encashable at a post office. It would be my intention to arrange for the transfer over time of more payments from the Department's offices to post offices if the necessary arrangements can be made.
Progress is being made towards developing and installing the necessary support systems for the introduction of new payment options. These include post drafts payable at post offices for unemployment payments and an electronic fund transfer (EFT) system whereby payments generally can be made direct into a person's current or deposit account. It is planned to introduce the post draft facility on a pilot basis later this year.
It is expected that an EFT facility will be introduced for child benefit recipients during the first half of 1992. In time this will be extended to other groups of recipients.
These developments will provide a choice in the method by which people can receive their social welfare entitlements. My Department are working closely with An Post on these developments and are, in principle, prepared to co-invest over the next ten years with An Post in the automation of An Post's counter services.
This will enable a wide range of services to be made available, using modern technology, to customers of An Post generally and to social welfare clients in particular. Detailed discussions with the parties involved are at an advanced stage.
