THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection has been criticised for changing the way that people receive unemployment payments, which now have to be done in person again rather than online. 

“We could cut out all of that [turning up in person] and just pay people electronically,” one TD said. 

It was announced last month that people receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance will now have to collect it from a post office once again, following the recent easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

The change will initially apply to all new jobseeker applicants, but will be extended to other jobseeker claims over the coming months.

When public health restrictions were first introduced in 2020, people in receipt of social welfare payments were given the option of being paid into their bank account.

The Department of Social Protection said at the time that this was an exceptional measure to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus and ensure people could comply with social distancing guidelines.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said last week that the return to post offices would result in more people visiting local branches to collect their payments, supporting the post office network and also helping tackle social welfare fraud.

But some people who receive the payments have criticised the change, saying it adds an extra burden on them.

One man living near the Cork-Kerry border told The Journal that the change means he now has to drive over 55km to a post office in order to collect the payment, which brings his fuel cost to between €45 – €50 a week.

“That’s insanity. I will be buying very expensive petrol to go and collect the reduced amount of money that they’re giving me,” he said.

“We’re supposed to be moving forwards, not backwards.”

He is also worried about the risk of contracting Covid by having to travel to the post office and queue with others collecting their payments.

“If the post office is packed, I’m not going into it. I’m a diabetic. There’s no way on God’s earth… I’ve avoided [Covid] so far and I’ve avoided it by keeping my distance from people,” he said.

The man spent over 30 years working in England, but took early retirement and returned to Ireland when the Brexit withdrawal agreement was ratified.

He tried to start his own business, but says he was unsuccessful as a result of the Covid pandemic and the poor quality of broadband where he lives.

Welfare fraud

The man said he worked as a fraud investigator in England, and would like Minister Humphreys to provide evidence as to how this move will help to tackle welfare fraud.

He said while welfare fraud does occur, this measure will do almost nothing to prevent it.

“Putting every single person on Jobseeker’s into a post office is, in real terms, not going to make much of a dent in that because they will have false identification. The post office does not have the facilities to check the genuine identification of every person. You’re talking millions and millions of euros-worth of equipment to be able to do that.”

He feels that there should be a debate on the matter as “it’s just not feasible” for people.

Others have also criticised the move on social media. One person wrote on Twitter that it was “back to an ancient and outdated system” that answers the need of the Post Office but doesn’t answer the needs of the people.

Another person said the move made “absolutely no sense“, while another said it would be a financial burden on people as many post offices have closed in rural areas, and with “little to no public transport”, it would be difficult for people to receive supports if they didn’t have a car.

Social Democrats spokesperson for Social Protection Gary Gannon told The Journal that he plans to raise the issue with the Minister in the Dáil.

“I’m going to question the Minister on the rationale of it and try and determine from her what’s the basis for which people have to go to this process of travelling to the post office, standing in the queue, being in receipt of payment, when actually we could cut out all of that and just pay people electronically,” he said.

“The only rationale which seems to have been offered at the minute is to help to rejuvenate and keep post offices open, which I think is an important thing to do, but I don’t see why people on Jobseeker’s Allowance have to be the ones to have to do that.”

People on Jobseeker’s Allowance are not getting a huge amount. In fact, many will be living below the poverty line, and the fact that they will have to travel in to collect Jobseeker’s Allowance… is a little bit unfair.

He said that his constituents have contacted him in relation to the move, which he says, they find “outdated”. 

He said that the idea that people in receipt of social welfare are going to defraud the State “has been debunked on several occasions”. 

In 2017, a FactCheck by The Journal analysed a claim by the Department of Social Protection that €500 million was saved in Ireland in 2016 as a result of the reporting of benefit fraud.

It found that the amount of money saved as a result of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit was €13 million - less than a tenth of the actual savings being claimed by the department, which estimated the saving from those two particular payments to be €172 million.

It also found that the estimated savings made by the Department as a result of reported fraud bear little or no resemblance to the reality.

“Undoubtedly a certain degree of fraud happens, but people have to sign on also. The majority of overpayments of social welfare come from administrative errors, it’s not actually people going out of their way to defraud,” Gannon said.

“Companies received payments from the State that they used to give shareholder dividends at the end of last year during the pandemic. There doesn’t seem to be much emphasis placed on that, yet there’s this idea that people on social welfare are inherently going to try and defraud the State.”

The Department of Social Protection and An Post did not respond to requests for comment.