Dole signing frequency - 4 weeks?!

MrThrifty

Is it just me or do folk on the dole think it's a bit 'retarded' that the welfare office signings are every 4 weeks and not something like the first say Wednesday of every month? Happened to be in the social welfare office this week and overheard several people who had forgotten to sign in on the required date. I had always assumed it was a monthly thing, but every 4 weeks means you have no real feel for when the next signing date is as it creeps back every month. To be honest, I have sympathy for these people, assuming that they did actually genuinely forget and weren't doing nixers on the actual signing day. The reality is that in a company situation, a meeting would never be held at a frequency of every 4 weeks and if it stupidly was, employees would generally have an Outlook reminder etc. on the day.

snubbleste

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mrsbyrne

MrThrifty wrote: »

Is it just me or do folk on the dole think it's a bit 'retarded' that the welfare office signings are every 4 weeks and not something like the first say Wednesday of every month? Happened to be in the social welfare office this week and overheard several people who had forgotten to sign in on the required date. I had always assumed it was a monthly thing, but every 4 weeks means you have no real feel for when the next signing date is as it creeps back every month. To be honest, I have sympathy for these people, assuming that they did actually genuinely forget and weren't doing nixers on the actual signing day. The reality is that in a company situation, a meeting would never be held at a frequency of every 4 weeks and if it stupidly was, employees would generally have an Outlook reminder etc. on the day.

Claimants get a reminder every week, when they collect their payment in the PO. Its printed on the bottom of their receipt. If the 460000 unemployed people in the country all signed on on the same day, do you not think it would be a bit chaotic?

MrThrifty

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Claimants get a reminder every week, when they collect their payment in the PO. Its printed on the bottom of their receipt. If the 460000 unemployed people in the country all signed on on the same day, do you not think it would be a bit chaotic?

Ah, that reminder at the PO changes things so... But still can't figure why it isn't a monthly rather than 4 weekly sign-on. You'd still have people signing on over the month and not all on same day...

movingtotheuk

MrThrifty wrote: »

Ah, that reminder at the PO changes things so... But still can't figure why it isn't a monthly rather than 4 weekly sign-on. You'd still have people signing on over the month and not all on same day...

I agree with you (people should sign the 1st,5th,10th,15th,etc. of every month).

The every 4 weeks is so forgetable - i just put a reminder in my phone.

I presume due to admin issues/people making claims at different dates the same date every month is not plausible.

mrsbyrne

movingtotheuk wrote: »

I agree with you (people should sign the 1st,5th,10th,15th,etc. of every month).

The every 4 weeks is so forgetable - i just put a reminder in my phone.

I presume due to admin issues/people making claims at different dates the same date every month is not plausible.

what if the 1st, 5th, 10th or 15th falls on a weekend or public holiday?

Fran79

I still cant over that its only every 4 weeks.
Its fortnightly in the UK.

The "forgetting" to sign is a bit of a joke though. The dole office where I sign gives you a letter with the time and dates of all your signings for the rest of the year when you first go to claim jobseekers. Just a case of popping it into the calendar / diary / on the fridge.

Larkenn

Fran79 wrote: »

The "forgetting" to sign is a bit of a joke though. The dole office where I sign gives you a letter with the time and dates of all your signings for the rest of the year when you first go to claim jobseekers. Just a case of popping it into the calendar / diary / on the fridge.

I have to agree with this. No one forgets to collect their money at the post office.

Oranage2

MrThrifty wrote: »

Is it just me or do folk on the dole think it's a bit 'retarded' that the welfare office signings are every 4 weeks and not something like the first say Wednesday of every month? Happened to be in the social welfare office this week and overheard several people who had forgotten to sign in on the required date. I had always assumed it was a monthly thing, but every 4 weeks means you have no real feel for when the next signing date is as it creeps back every month. To be honest, I have sympathy for these people, assuming that they did actually genuinely forget and weren't doing nixers on the actual signing day. The reality is that in a company situation, a meeting would never be held at a frequency of every 4 weeks and if it stupidly was, employees would generally have an Outlook reminder etc. on the day.

God help them, i know being on the dole is hard but i didn't know how horrific it actually was, imagine having to sign on days that weren't confidently placed, every 4 weeks is a joke too, wouldn't it make more sense if people just had to sign on once a year and possibly online?

scudzilla

Ridiculous that signing on is every 4 weeks, should be every week, it's not as though they have anything better to do.

I remember reading somewhere that during the volcanic ash crisis, when planes were grounded for nearly a week, 25% of people due to sign on failed to appear!!

Having it every 4 weeks makes it to easy for someone living in another country to pop here on a Ryanair flight once a month and get close to a grand in dole for the privelege

MrThrifty

Think the point is being missed here. I think too that the signing on should be weekly for obvious reasons plus the fact that in relation to the point I was orinally making, it would be regular and 'unforgettable'. If some people here could stop making the assumption that everyone on the dole is out to ride the system, then they might be able to see how a period of 4 weeks between signings makes no sense. I can't imagine that genuinely unemployed people have much of a daily/weekly routine like those working and therefore having to remember a 4 weekly appointment is awkward. Incidentally, one of the people I overheard in the office at the time joked that they would be happy to sign on weekly coz it would be easier to remember!!

babsybaby01

My last 5 receipts haven't had the next signing date on them......

tenchi-fan

scudzilla wrote: »

Ridiculous that signing on is every 4 weeks, should be every week, it's not as though they have anything better to do.

Collection at the post office is weekly. It would be a waste of money having everyone sign on weekly and collect weekly..

If the government had one ounce of competence in implementing IT I'd suggest a self-service weekly sign-on, with a PIN number and spot checks. But employing more public servants to accommodate more frequent sign-ons would be a huge waste of money.

MrThrifty wrote: »

I can't imagine that genuinely unemployed people have much of a daily/weekly routine like those working and therefore having to remember a 4 weekly appointment is awkward.

I was on the dole a few years back. I went to Newcastle, Co Down for the day and completely forgot to sign on. I'd imagine most people who forget to sign on simply have something more interesting arranged. I don't think the system should be changed to make their sign-on date more memorable.

MrThrifty

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Collection at the post office is weekly. It would be a waste of money having everyone sign on weekly and collect weekly..

If the government had one ounce of competence in implementing IT I'd suggest a self-service weekly sign-on, with a PIN number and spot checks. But employing more public servants to accommodate more frequent sign-ons would be a huge waste of money.

Off-topic a bit here but I don't personally think it would be a waste of money. At the moment, there apparently is no ID check done when people collect the weekly dole from the post offices. There are then apparently people not in the country or at work getting their unemployed mates to drop into a few different post offices to collect their dole payments for them.

Can't understand why a photo ID check isn't introduced at the post office as a minimum - sure how long extra would it really take the post office workers to do this check (i.e. cost = zero). Apart from preventing the system from being defrauded, it would stop employed people from generally assuming that all people on the dole are defrauding the system. As for spot checks, this would be great also but obviously it would cost a bit to implement.

Now that I think about it, are people's identities verified when they sign on at the social welfare office? I presume that there's a photo ID check done as a minimum and that's why some non-nationals supposedly fly over here monthly, or should I say 4-weekly!

Balagan

Getting paid
You can collect your Jobseeker’s Allowance payment weekly from your nearest Post Office.
You must bring valid photographic identification (photo ID) with you to collect your payment. The following is considered to be valid photographic identification:
Driving licence
Passport
GNIB card
EU/EEA nationals may use a National Identity Card
Staff working in the Post Office may ask to see your photo ID before giving you your payment.
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/JobseekerSupports/JobseekersAllowance/Pages/ja.aspx