Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 months

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chlipps

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Just wondering if any other people are receiving forms from social welfare dept every 3 months for child benefit to prove residency?

My wife is not Irish but is European. Every three months she receives a form to complete which her employers have to sign and stamp.

We find it annoying as know friends and also family do not have to fill this form.

I'm Irish and my Son is irish. We have no plans to leave ireland.

This seems to be waste of money by dept of social welfare to be sending out this form every three months.

Is there anyway of stopping this form?.

Has anyone who received the form contacted the dept to stop sending it out?

Any feedback appreciated
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I have to do this too. I'm from the UK originally, have been here 10 years. What worried me last time I had sent it off, was entries on this forum from some people who had their CB stopped, the SW office saying their form had not been returned. In future I will have to pay extra for registered post for peace of mind, an added nuisance.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Claims are normally registered to the mother and, as the person receiving the benefit, it is her nationality that dictates the status of the claim.

The proof of Residency forms are anti-fraud measures & are standard:

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/BirthChildrenAndFamilies/ChildRelatedPayments/Pages/cb.aspx:

''EU/EEA citizens and Swiss national covered by EU Regulations are currently required to certify every 3 months that they continue to work in this State.
Non-EU/EEA citizens are currently required to certify twice a year that they and their children continue to live in this State. ''



From http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2009-10-21.1046.0 :

''In 2008 some 80,000 certificates issued to non-Irish customers who qualify on the basis of employment or residency. In the course of this exercise, it transpired that some 24,000 had changed residence of which 8,000 had left the country and did not therefore have entitlement to benefit. Certificates are now issued on a quarterly basis to all customers who qualify for child benefit on the basis of employment or residency. Some 80,000 certificates were issued in 2008 and 315,000 is the likely total issuing in 2009. The cost is an estimated €1 per transaction – including a postage-paid envelope for the customer’s reply. Savings in 2008 arising from the issue of the certificates were just under €27 million. In 2009 to date, savings are €58 million and are expected to be in the region of €80 million by the end of the year.''
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Thanks Gervan and Papercut for responses

I agree Gervan that it is a nuisance. My wife sent it back over the weekend so have missed out on registering the post...something i must do the next time

Papercut... that is a considerable saving for government... so i assume there is no way around this?...seems to be waste in my case as we are definitely staying in Ireland but how are they to know that.... I suppose we just have to continue to fill it in..Thanks again for info above
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Interesting thread. I was not aware of this.

How do they ensure that Irish mothers have not left the state?
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

chlipps said:
Thanks Gervan and Papercut for responses

Papercut... that is a considerable saving for government... so i assume there is no way around this?...seems to be waste in my case as we are definitely staying in Ireland but how are they to know that.... I suppose we just have to continue to fill it in..Thanks again for info above
Click to expand...

I really don't think there is, & I know that it is a bit of a pain for genuine cases such as yours & so many others, but I suppose they can justify it by the amount of savings they make by doing it. Presumably (& I don't know this for sure), if your wife were to become a naturalised Irish citizen, she would not be subject to the reviews, though that would be more trouble than to just continue filling in the forms.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Unfortunately, as I am not an Irish citizen, even though my husband is Irish, my two children are Irish and I haven been living and working in Ireland for the last 12 years, I also have to fill in this annoying form every three months!

In the case of working mothers, surely they could easily check up whether you have paid up your PAYE and PRSI contributions the previous months and thus safely assume that you are still in the country?

By doing this they would further increase their savings.....
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I thought the same Rocio on the PAYE/PRSI... but i asssume as they are 2 separate dept's there is no link passing thru the info between dept's

Good point Gtec, i assume there are many irish mothers that have already left.... and i assume they have no issue.

Lucky my wife is working... i dont know how she could fill the form if she was not employed as would not have the company stamp
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I am not Irish and i received this letter every 3 months but I have never been asked to have the form signed by my workplace - I just need to provide which school my child is attending and for the baby which creche or doctor i am using for her - Child benefit has nothing to do with my work so they should not ask the employer to sign anything in relation to it.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I am the same as Samantha, I only have to provide details about my children's school/créche or GP, but my employer does not have to stamp anything
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Samantha said:
I am not Irish and i received this letter every 3 months but I have never been asked to have the form signed by my workplace - I just need to provide which school my child is attending and for the baby which creche or doctor i am using for her - Child benefit has nothing to do with my work so they should not ask the employer to sign anything in relation to it.
Click to expand...
From the same link as I posted above http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2009-10-21.1046.0
According to Mary Hanafin, it's only

''In the case of EU nationals who are working in Ireland but who have qualified children living in another EU state, certification by their employer of continuing employment is requested.''
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

We must be getting a different form as I dont recall having to mention creche.... but definitely employers stamp is required on the form we get

Based on bold text in Papercuts last mail, 'children living in another EU state'.. that does not apply to us as son is living in Ireland... I think I will have to ring them the next time the form comes out....

Thanks all for responses
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

Hi chlipps,

I think they are thinking you have childeren living in other eu states and you are working in Ireland. and every time they want to reconfirm if you are still working in Ireland or not. Make you situation clear to them.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I am neither Irish or from the EU and get the dr/school/ creche form. There must be different forms dependent on your situation. Recently I forgot to send in my form on time and my payment was stopped. I had to ring in to the office to get this reinstated.
@Gtec when I rang up, I was told there are now plans to send this form to all mothers and not just the non nationals.....
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

I agree that it is a very blunt stick to solve a problem that is caused by the fact that the social welfare systems and the tax systems are not integrated.
I do feel sorry for people who are settled in Ireland for years, and have to fill this in every 3 months, it must make people feel unwelcome.

Similar forms are sent to Irish families but not as often.

Unfortunately, until Government departments get their act together, this seems to be the way that they will use to combat fraud.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

It should be very simple for the dept of social welfare and revenue to cross reference... a simple database showing that a person (pps no.) has paid paye/prsi should be enough to stop the issue of this letter every 3 months
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

chlipps said:
It should be very simple for the dept of social welfare and revenue to cross reference... a simple database showing that a person (pps no.) has paid paye/prsi should be enough to stop the issue of this letter every 3 months
Click to expand...
But what if the person is not working or claiming?
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

But if it works for those working then why annoy them with letters to prove they are here when it is clear they are here from PAYE/PRSI payments. Also there should be an administration saving

Yes there is an issue for those not working/claiming. Maybe another solution would be dept of education to link up with dept of social welfare. If dept of eduction has list of all kids in school via their pps number then why not pay them the child benefit... i know this only applies to those in school but again it would overall reduce the dept of social welfare admin costs. They would not have to send out letters to all those between 5 and 18 years that are resident here. One could even possibly assume that their younger brothers/sisters are also in ireland as I doubt very few families have kids split between countries

There is probably no clear solution for all parties but why not take a few solutions like above to cut back the paper mountain and associated administration costs. Then they can focus in on the few cases remaining to evaluate if they are justified or not. Maybe their are reasons for not implementing the above but I strongly believe there are means to improve efficiency between dept's.
 
Re: Proof of residency form from Dept of Social Welfare for Child Benefit every 3 mon

chlipps said:
But if it works for those working then why annoy them with letters to prove they are here when it is clear they are here from PAYE/PRSI payments. Also there should be an administration saving

Yes there is an issue for those not working/claiming. Maybe another solution would be dept of education to link up with dept of social welfare. If dept of eduction has list of all kids in school via their pps number then why not pay them the child benefit... i know this only applies to those in school but again it would overall reduce the dept of social welfare admin costs. They would not have to send out letters to all those between 5 and 18 years that are resident here. One could even possibly assume that their younger brothers/sisters are also in ireland as I doubt very few families have kids split between countries

There is probably no clear solution for all parties but why not take a few solutions like above to cut back the paper mountain and associated administration costs. Then they can focus in on the few cases remaining to evaluate if they are justified or not. Maybe their are reasons for not implementing the above but I strongly believe there are means to improve efficiency between dept's.
Click to expand...


I don't see how your proposals would reduce admin costs. DSFA mailshots a 'catch all' letter from an existing database; how does your proposal make this dministratively easier or more effective?
 
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