child benefit payment temporarily suspended for over 5,600 people

antoobrien

Now it could be that these people have moved address and not got the letters, but it's nice to see the government starting to take the problem of who's getting welfare payments serious.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/thousands-have-child-benefit-payment-suspended-534906.html

More than 5,600 people have had their child benefit payment suspended in January for failing to provide details to the Department of Social Protection.

The Department says it contacted 63,000 claimants in September to confirm that they still live in Ireland and satisfy the necessary conditions for the payment.

Any of those who did not write back within 42 days had their payments suspended, meaning they will have to go without children's allowance this month.

ScouseMouse

Its a good start, but dont get to excited.

It happened to me last year where they sent us a letter asking basic questions like where does the child go to school....

We forgot to return it and CB was stopped. Rang them and cleared it up.

rasper

42 days to return a letter WTF , is that what they call are cracking down and getting tough, my total loss of faith has not been restored this country is being fleeced and we've no way to measure how much

tara73

I think its a good start. at least some kind of action with sense.

42 days is a bit much time, but with this the real fraudsters will be caught.

thesimpsons

the 42 days to return the letter includes the time between when they actually print the letters and actually get them in the post. Over the years we've gotten a few of these check up letters and by the time the letter actually reaches me, theres only a few days left. Apparently they batch the letters so as not to swamp An Post - least that's the excuse they gave me when I enquired why I was getting my post 4 wks after its apparent date.

NIMAN

We received this letter 3 times in 2011, a bit OTT imho.

But you have no excuse if you receive it and don't send it back. They do right to stop the CB of any that aren't returned.

rasper

thesimpsons wrote: »

the 42 days to return the letter includes the time between when they actually print the letters and actually get them in the post. Over the years we've gotten a few of these check up letters and by the time the letter actually reaches me, theres only a few days left. Apparently they batch the letters so as not to swamp An Post - least that's the excuse they gave me when I enquired why I was getting my post 4 wks after its apparent date.

There may be a reason they give someone 7weeks to fill a form but it's still not right, there's are targeted drops I'm sure on people who could be defrauding the state, so at the very least I expect the social to get a bit more organised or outsource so we can get results

n97 mini

I ran less than €1 overdrawn and the bank wrote to me giving me 7 days to clear the overdraft or my account would be closed.

42 days to come up with a reason to continue to get free money is very generous.

astrofool

The letters also require a bit of work, e.g. getting your employer to sign and stamp that you are working, so not quite as simple as fill it in and post it back.

donalg1

42 days and people are still late with them, it doesnt matter how long you give some people they will still not bother sending them back and then moan as if the whole world is against them when their CB is stopped. I would say the 42 days was given because of these people it was probably thought best to give them as much time as is absolutely possible a lot of adults need to be molly coddled unfortunately.

DonalK1981

There is a real easy fix to the Social Welfare/Child Benefit payment to people not in the state. Photos on SW cards or child benefit books. Thumb print readers in the post offices for the claim to be paid out... SIMPLES

nice_guy80

and only pay out the majority of the benefits in cash

pay the rest onto a smart card.
that can only be used to buy food, clothing, babycare products, non alcoholic drinks, no cigs.

Red Actor

rasper wrote: »

There may be a reason they give someone 7weeks to fill a form but it's still not right, there's are targeted drops I'm sure on people who could be defrauding the state, so at the very least I expect the social to get a bit more organised or outsource so we can get results

More to do with not cutting people off before Christmas.

nice_guy80 wrote: »

and only pay out the majority of the benefits in cash

pay the rest onto a smart card.
that can only be used to buy food, clothing, babycare products, non alcoholic drinks, no cigs.

Vouchers/smart cards have never worked as the system is simple to circumvent - cash goes for booze, smart card goes for normal essentials.

NIMAN

astrofool wrote: »

The letters also require a bit of work, e.g. getting your employer to sign and stamp that you are working, so not quite as simple as fill it in and post it back.

Sorry but you can't make excuses.

As I said, we got this letter 3 times last year. And that was 3 times that we had to post the form to Dublin to get it stamped, wait for it to be returned then post it on ourselves.

Thankfully I have found the postage system one of the few things that works in this country. If I posted the form to Dublin on a Monday I would have it back before the end of the week. So the total time would be approx 5 or 6 days before I posted it to the CB section.

If you can't do it in 42 days they you simply aren't trying, and deserve the hassle imho.

playmasterone

so can get this payment if i go to live in scotland