Dole and Childrens allowance - residents only I thought ?

[irishlinks]

All new claimants since last July have to collect Jobseekers Benefits/Allowance from a post Office each week. If they don't collect - their payments are suspended and they are suppposed to report to Social Welafre to explain. Signing on is monthly.
Claims before July 2008 can still be getting paid into bank accounts - but most still have to sign on monthly.
BUT - people who live more than 10 miles from the Social Welfare office (could be common in rural areas) - only have to sign on every 3 months.
So there is potential for some fraud for claims started before last July - they would only need to come back 4 times a year to sign on.

 

[murphaph]

Of course it is possible to transfer irish benefit payments to another EU country for up to 13 weeks. It is eminently sensible that there is a time limit on this as otherwise there would be nothing to stop people working for a while in a high cost country then going unemployed to claim benefits indefinitely in a low cost one, benefits which could easily be better than wages in some countries.

 

[gipimann]

Persons working here who have family living in another EU country are entitled to claim Child Benefit under EU legislation. Fraud arises if the person working here ceases work, leaves the country and fails to notify the Department.

 

[Welfarite]

You must sign on weekly for your dole since last July.

You must collect weekly at PO since last July, still sign monthly.

I stand corrected !

Do you know if it has changed for the childrens allowance ? I think that was once every three months and paid directly into your account ?

The only review on CB is by mailshot, if no reply CB is stopped. There was a long thread on this practice recently, many AAM posters were peeved at being 'singled out' for CB review!

In general, like much anecdotal evidence, the incidence of the type of fraud being discussed here is exaggerated somewhat. Once the scam was uncovered (in South East, I think), the dept. closed the option of paying into bank accounts and targeted certain types of claimants for review on the basis of risk, in all SW schemes.

 

[Welfarite]

There should be physical checks on the addresses that the letters are sent to....in order to ascertain whether they are actually still living there, otherwise, it is useless sending out letter for signature.

Why? The signature can be X-referenced against the original claim form signature. How much would it cost the tax-payer to call to 100,000 addresses?

 

[Welfarite]

They are not even bothering to fly in anymore - they are paying their friends a few € to sign for them!

No wonder we're the laughing stock!

If you have evidence of this, report it to SW.

 

[Welfarite]

Not sure but that would tie in with the story I was told ( taxi driver that picked up a few guys from the airport - quick pitstop to sign on and then back to the airport again. He reckoned it was fairly common ! ??

More anecdotal stuff! I'd love to know which office can deal with 'signing on' like a 'quick pitstop' ....most I know have two hour queues on signing days!

 

[sunrock]

I remember when the east european workers came here first,after Mary Harney went over to poland to beg them to come to work in Ireland as the Irish workers did not like hard work.They all declared ad nauseum that they were here to work and not to go on welfare.10 or 15 years of housing were built in 5 years.The result is we will now have 5 years ,of no house building and irish and east european builders will be on the dole,as well as all the other workers effected by the lack of work due to the recession.Of courser I don`t blame the foreign workers for signing on and getting their 200+ euros every week, when the dell workers in poland are only getting 3 euros per hour.However I think we are being too soft with them.Irish workers would not find it so easy to get dole in france or germany for example,without going through a lot of obstacles.Whats wrong with making these able bodied and willing workers do a lot of community and other suitable work as a condition of their dole.And not 1 or 2 percentage but over 80% at any one time.

 

[Complainer]

Not sure but that would tie in with the story I was told ( taxi driver that picked up a few guys from the airport - quick pitstop to sign on and then back to the airport again. He reckoned it was fairly common ! ??

Good to see that it is a reliable source with no prior reputation for racist comments that you are relying on for your information.

 

[Bronte]

.Whats wrong with making these able bodied and willing workers do a lot of community and other suitable work as a condition of their dole.

Are you saying that only 'eastern europeans' on the dole should have to do this work?

 

[sunrock]

No I am not.
However as most non nationals are young and eager to work ,I don`t see how they could object to community work etc, doing projects to build up the community.After all,it is a condition of their dole that they should be able and willing to work etc

 

[Howitzer]

No I am not.
However as most non nationals are young and eager to work ,I don`t see how they could object to community work etc, doing projects to build up the community.After all,it is a condition of their dole that they should be able and willing to work etc

Ideally if we could then house them in some sort of camp that concentrated the talent into one area, reduced the cost they impose upon the state and freed up the space they currently occupy in nice Irish estates. They could then be readily used for whatever state projects were in need of manual labour.

I don't see how anyone could object to that.

 

[gillarosa]

Ideally if we could then house them in some sort of camp that concentrated the talent into one area, reduced the cost they impose upon the state and freed up the space they currently occupy in nice Irish estates. They could then be readily used for whatever state projects were in need of manual labour.

I don't see how anyone could object to that.

The Irish Landlords whom they are currently paying rent to!!

 

[Vanilla]

Ideally if we could then house them in some sort of camp that concentrated the talent into one area, reduced the cost they impose upon the state and freed up the space they currently occupy in nice Irish estates. They could then be readily used for whatever state projects were in need of manual labour.

I don't see how anyone could object to that.

Excellent post!

 

[diarmuidc]

Irish workers would not find it so easy to get dole in france or germany for example,without going through a lot of obstacles

I take it you just pulled that one from thin air. I know for a fact that it's as easy for Irish people working in France to sign on as it is for the French. You don't even have to show up in the offices for the first 3 months of your dole, it can be done over the internet!

 

[Bronte]

No I am not.
However as most non nationals are young and eager to work ,I don`t see how they could object to community work etc, doing projects to build up the community.After all,it is a condition of their dole that they should be able and willing to work etc

Do you think that young Irish people are not eager to work? What should be done with them?

 

[Samantha]

Regarding children allowance, every 6 months I received from the Department of social affair a letter asking me for name/address and phone number of my children school/creche/doctor. I am guessing they contact them to double check that they are still in Ireland since I am not Irish. I think they should sent it as well to everyone in Ireland not only the non irish national (none of my Irish colleagues have ever received this letter)

 

[sunrock]

Do you think that young Irish people are not eager to work? What should be done with them?

My point is about the age profile of non nationals

 

[sunrock]

I take it you just pulled that one from thin air. I know for a fact that it's as easy for Irish people working in France to sign on as it is for the French. You don't even have to show up in the offices for the first 3 months of your dole, it can be done over the internet!

Admittedly my experience is in germany,and I know from personal experience how difficult they make it for irish people even getting resident permits,They pull a whole lot of tricks even arguing that ireland is not in the european union etc.Of course if one perseveres one can get ones entitlements.I have no doubt they treat well paid professionals differently.
Of course one has to get a job in these countries first and i imagine that would be very difficult as well especially in France.How long would a person have to be working in France before being eligble for dole and how much is their dole per week.Don`t forget Germany and France did not allow the east europeans to work in their countries until was it last year.

 

[gillarosa]

Regarding children allowance, every 6 months I received from the Department of social affair a letter asking me for name/address and phone number of my children school/creche/doctor. I am guessing they contact them to double check that they are still in Ireland since I am not Irish. I think they should sent it as well to everyone in Ireland not only the non irish national (none of my Irish colleagues have ever received this letter)

Samantha, there was a long thread here about this a number of months ago. I understand some foreign born recipients of CA felt and feel a little discriminated against in regard to the frequency of letters. But as there is greater mobility amongst Migrants especially during periods of economic change its not unreasonable for the Department to check the residency status of foreigh born recipients on a regular basis. After all it benefits all of us and our Children here in Ireland regardless of where we originated. But I agree that regular checks should be run on all and I think mailshoots for all recipients is in the overall plan against Welfare fraud in general.