John O'Donoghue
Question:5 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Social Welfare when weekly signing-on arrangements will be finally phased out. [6120/95]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Signing on Arrangements.
An integral part of the Department's strategy for improving services for the unemployed has been the phased introduction of more flexible signing on arrangements. Over the past two years weekly signing has been abolished for the vast majority of citizens who are registered as unemployed at social welfare local offices. This change has been made possible by the introduction of alternative pay methods to cash. Under the new arrangements the majority of unemployed persons are now required to sign on once only each month.
The more flexible signing arrangements will also be phased in for those who are registered as unemployed at my Department's branch offices. In this regard a postal draft payment system has been introduced for people in receipt of unemployment benefit at a number of branch offices in recent months. These now sign on monthly and are paid each week at their local post office. This system will be introduced for all those signing at branch offices and is dependent on the computerisation of branch offices not currently linked to the Department's main computer network and the completion of negotiations with the Branch Managers' Assocation about changes in work practices. I expect this process to be complete by the end of 1996.
Would the Minister accept that it is humiliating and degrading for people to have to travel, very often long distances, to sign on at labour exchanges and Garda stations, that there is now urgent need to complete the computerisation process and to introduce cashless offices nationwide?
I agree with the Deputy. Approximately 20 per cent of those who now claim unemployment benefit actually sign on weekly; something of the order of 79,000 sign on at Garda stations, representing a small proportion of the total numbers who sign on. The move away from weekly signing on is based on a completely different approach from the old one, which was that if somebody did not call at a particular time each week, there was a perceived risk or imputation that they might be working. My Department is attempting to encourage people to work rather than lock them into unemployment in which respect the back to work scheme operated by my Department has been very successful, enabling participants to retain portion of their unemployment assistance while they work. It is a completely different cultural approach to unemployment and unemployment assistance. We endeavour to encourage people to work rather than speak at corners.
Where exactly are the 20 per cent the Minister says must sign on weekly located, in urban centres or in rural areas?
I do not have that geographic spread of information in my notes, but I will be happy to furnish it to the Deputy. My impression is that most rural claimants would sign on in Garda stations and that branch offices would be primarily based in larger towns. I will obtain the information for the Deputy.
Will the Minister confirm that the move to cashless offices and the collection of benefit from post offices away from the fine new regional centres, such as that in my constituency, has worsened the position regarding the collection of benefit for some people? Instead of collecting their benefits in a large purpose built modern attractive office they must now queue with thousands of others who require a variety of other services in small local post offices. Has the Minister examined this position? Does he believe that the decision regarding the collection of benefit is permanent and that those fine regional offices will provide purely administrative and other functions? Has he had substantial discussions with An Post about improving its services?
I am aware of the position, particularly in the Finglas area, to which Deputy Flaherty refers. One of the first things I did when I became Minister was to inquire why people had to queue, often in the rain, outside the local post office in the main street of Finglas a few doors away from my office. Arrangements are under way to provide additional space and eliminate the necessity to queue.
The Minister stated in his reply that people on unemployment benefit receive their payments through the post office. When will people on unemployment assistance receive their payments through post offices? Given that there was a gradual spread across the country for the collection of unemployment benefits through the post office why were those on unemployment assistance not allowed to collect their money through the post office? It appears the present position discriminates against the long term unemployed. In my town those on unemployment benefit can collect their payment through the post office but those on unemployment assistance cannot.
In my reply I indicated that flexible signing arrangements will be phased in for those registered as unemployed at my Department's branch offices and I expect that process will be complete by the end of 1996. By that time the problem to which the Deputy referred should no longer exist.
Why are unemployment assistance and unemployment benefit not paid out through the post offices in the towns in which that facility is available? Why have those on unemployment benefit been facilitated and those on unemployment assistance, who are generally more disadvantaged because they are long term unemployed, excluded?
As the Deputy is aware, having been a former Minister, Departments which introduce new systems must agree some priorities. The previous Minister decided this was the manner in which we should proceed.
Will the Minister indicate what time-frame he envisages for phasing out or termination of signing on weekly at Garda stations?
I do not know the answer to that. Based on the information available to me, I presume it should be phased out by the end of next year, but I would have to clarify that for the Deputy.
Regarding signing on arrangements, will the Minister assure the House that members of the travelling community are not being discriminated against by requiring them to sign on at any specific centres as was sometimes the case in the past? It caused great annoyance to that community whose members should be treated exactly the same as others required to sign on.
As the Deputy is aware, I am totally against any discrimination, implied or otherwise, in the manner in which my Department deals with the travelling community or any other category of claimant. On the basis of the Deputy's question I will inquire into the procedures currently in place and ascertain if the position to which he referred is operating. If it is, I will seek to eliminate it.