unemployed - sign on by text !!!

geeky · 28-05-2010 11:01AM

I'm normally on the side of the dole-ee, but this idea is just ridiculous.

mickdw · 28-05-2010 11:07AM

They will certainly have to provide the people on the dole with mobiles free of charge now. After all, it would be unconstitutional to make people who couldnt afford a mobile have to actually do more work to get there payment than those who have a phone.

xhappyx · 28-05-2010 11:11AM

ha ha, good one - free mobiles yah!!!

ghostdancer · 28-05-2010 11:13AM

so instead of going to the local welfare office once a month to sign a piece of paper and nothing else, you can do it by text instead.

you still have to go to the post office every week, sign, to collect your money.

not really sure what people's issue here is. it doesn't make fraud any easier, or people any less likely to collect their dole.

if anything, it just creates less of a queue at the local office, so that the welfare office workers can actually process claims and queries quicker, instead of 1/2 of them having to wait for a few hundred people a day to sign a piece of paper.

punchdrunk · 28-05-2010 11:14AM

any chance of an app for it I wonder?

brendansmith · 28-05-2010 11:15AM

cn i hv d free $s nw pls? xoxo

Banned Account · 28-05-2010 11:16AM

ghostdancer wrote: »

so instead of going to the local welfare office once a month to sign a piece of paper and nothing else, you can do it by text instead.

you still have to go to the post office every week, sign, to collect your money.

not really sure what people's issue here is. it doesn't make fraud any easier, or people any less likely to collect their dole.

if anything, it just creates less of a queue at the local office, so that the welfare office workers can actually process claims and queries quicker, instead of 1/2 of them having to wait for a few hundred people a day to sign a piece of paper.

Of course, now you can text "yes I am available for work from abroad, the pub, the other end of the country or from that nixer you're doing without having to take a half day off to go home and change your clothes before going to the office.

Crackin' idea:rolleyes:

changes · 28-05-2010 11:19AM

I would like to think that with the country in the state its in and 21 billion a year going on social welfare that welfare fraud is one of the top targets for this government.

If this system is designed to aid in catching welfare fraudsters then great but if its just some harebrained way to reduce the workload of the admin staff then i really do worry for the future of this country.

ghostdancer · 28-05-2010 11:20AM

geeky wrote: »

I'm normally on the side of the dole-ee, but this idea is just ridiculous.

why exactly is it ridiculous?

what benefit is there by making people go to their office once a month, sign a piece of paper, then go on their way?

when i was on the dole, it was a complete waste of time, as i still had to go to the post office each week and show them my Social Services card, the same one i show at the Welfare Office, to collect money.

they can still call people to come in and show proof that they're applying for work.

in fact, cost of implementing it aside, it's a bloody great idea.

marco_polo · 28-05-2010 11:20AM

The only mention of 'by text' is from the author of the piece?

ghostdancer · 28-05-2010 11:23AM

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

Of course, now you can text "yes I am available for work from abroad, the pub, the other end of the country or from that nixer you're doing without having to take a half day off to go home and change your clothes before going to the office.

Crackin' idea:rolleyes:

except that's not how it works.

it doesn't mention anything about proving that you're looking for work via text.
it says that you are certifying that you are still seeking work via text, the same as signing the sheet every month.
if they want to see documentation of that, then they will ask for it separately, just like they do now.

this proposal would basically have no impact on fraud whatsoever compared to the current system.

i'm guessing the people that are saying how silly the idea is don't understand the current setup.

gsxr1 · 28-05-2010 11:25AM

Would be great if we could do it Via Face book Status instead.

social networking while signing

Banned Account · 28-05-2010 11:26AM

ghostdancer wrote: »

except that's not how it works.

it doesn't mention anything about proving that you're looking for work via text.

it says that you are certifying that you are still seeking work via text, the same as signing the sheet every month.

if they want to see documentation of that, then they will ask for it separately, just like they do now.

How did you draw this conclusion from the post you have quoted

. If you are signing on and not working, why the hell is it such an inconvenience to go down to the office and present yourself once a month?

P.S. After Hours has spoken, and you are clearly wrong

mikom · 28-05-2010 11:34AM

Still no job : (
No nixers this wk ; )
More dole pls : )

Banned Account · 28-05-2010 11:38AM

mikom wrote: »

Still no job : (
No nixers this wk ; )
More dole pls : )

Hi. Your Special Treat is waiting for you. Make sure you drop by socialwelfare.ie/freemoney and click on special traets to collect yours. Opt out by working.

saywhatyousee · 28-05-2010 11:40AM

out of the 21 billion social welfare bill 4.9 billion goes to the dole the other 16 billion or so goes on child benefit, pension ect

ghostdancer · 28-05-2010 11:41AM

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

How did you draw this conclusion from the post you have quoted. If you are signing on and not working, why the hell is it such an inconvenience to go down to the office and present yourself once a month?

P.S. After Hours has spoken, and you are clearly wrong

who said anything about it being an inconvenience?
it's to free up resources and improve efficiency in the public sector, and save money.

PS. AH is full of spastics, ergo, it's a great idea. and i'm right.

Banned Account · 28-05-2010 11:43AM

ghostdancer wrote: »

it's to free up resources and improve efficiency in the public sector, and save money.

They could do this by actually working a bit.

ghostdancer wrote: »

PS. AH is full of spastics.

Come here often;)

mikom · 28-05-2010 11:50AM

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

Hi. Your Special Treat is waiting for you. Make sure you drop by socialwelfare.ie/freemoney and click on special traets to collect yours. Opt out by working.

tks
c u nxt wk.

Run_to_da_hills · 28-05-2010 11:52AM

munchkin_utd wrote: »

so someone on the dole can now sign on from the beach in Lanzarotte by text!

Nice!!!

Not as easy as that, have you ever tried using Google Maps on a phone?

I gather the Authorities will have cell site analysis and any other high tech GPS tracking technology at their finger tips.

mikom · 28-05-2010 11:57AM

ghostdancer wrote: »

PS. AH is full of spastics, ergo, it's a great idea. and i'm right.

That's an inappropriate word for this site.
In future use "therefore" instead of "ergo".

Greyfox · 28-05-2010 12:16PM

ghostdancer wrote: »

what benefit is there by making people go to their office once a month, sign a piece of paper, then go on their way?

I think it's disgusting that you only have to go to the dole office once a month, their should be someone on a weekly basis trying to determine if your part of the minority who aren't making a big effort to look for work or not befor you can get your money.

Their's already a lot of people defrauding the system, and now FF have decided to make this a bit easier, sure their on such a great roll with stupid idea after another stupid idea why stop now, the country is already ruined anyway.

It appears that the people who defraud the system are smarter and more determined then the people controlling the system so it's only a matter of time befor some people find a way around the fraud prevention measures they'll put in place for this

Sign on by text is a joke, people should have to do 6 hours community service once a week and at the end of the day they get their dole, now this would definitely help cut down on dole fraud and it might even help cut down on the people that "can't be bothered looking for a job at the moment"

Thoie · 28-05-2010 12:19PM

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

If you are signing on and not working, why the hell is it such an inconvenience to go down to the office and present yourself once a month?

Just for the record, when I was unemployed there were two social welfare offices within a reasonable distance of me. One is about a 35 minute walk away, the other is about a 25 minute walk away.

The office they insisted I sign on at was a 1h40m walk away on the basis "that was my area". Taking public transport it was still about an hour and a half away. So even though I was sitting at home not working, on a miserable wet day it was a hell of an inconvenience to get there, queue for a few hours and get home again. In a taxi it would have been a trip of about 15 minutes.

I kept asking could I not go to one of the two handy offices, or one of the other offices that I passed on the way to "my" office, but it was a real case of "the computer says no". An Post had designated areas for their convenience/load balancing, and Social Welfare stuck rigidly to that, regardless of what common sense said.

marco_polo · 28-05-2010 12:24PM

Greyfox wrote: »

I think it's disgusting that you only have to go to the dole office once a month, their should be someone on a weekly basis trying to determine if your part of the minority who aren't making a big effort to look for work or not befor you can get your money.

Their's already a lot of people defrauding the system, and now FF have decided to make this a bit easier, sure their on such a great roll with stupid idea after another stupid idea why stop now, the country is already ruined anyway.

It appears that the people who defraud the system are smarter and more determined then the people controlling the system so it's only a matter of time befor some people find a way around the fraud prevention measures they'll put in place for this

Sign on by text is a joke, people should have to do 6 hours community service once a week and at the end of the day they get their dole, now this would definitely help cut down on dole fraud and it might even help cut down on the people that "can't be bothered looking for a job at the moment"

The whole point of the excercise is to free up time so that they can target the minority who are abusing the system.

Speaking of dumb ideas under your scheme how many extra PS staff would be required to meet 400,000 SW recipients face to face every week?

Thoie · 28-05-2010 12:25PM

Greyfox wrote: »

I think it's disgusting that you only have to go to the dole office once a month, their should be someone on a weekly basis trying to determine if your part of the minority who aren't making a big effort to look for work or not befor you can get your money.

I think if the social welfare introduced a system whereby you could cc a certain address (say <Thoie's_PPS#@socialwelfare.ie>) every time you apply for a job online it would make it much easier to track if you're seriously looking for work. It would be quite simple for them to set up an alert if that mailbox didn't receive any applications for a few weeks, and an automated email could be sent reminding you that you're supposed to be actively looking for work. Obviously they'd need to keep the current system for people applying in traditional ways by posting/handing in CVs, but I'd imagine that the number of paper applications is reducing over the years.

K-9 · 28-05-2010 12:29PM

marco_polo wrote: »

The whole point of the excercise is to free up time so that they can target the minority who are abusing the system.

Speaking of dumb ideas under your scheme how many extra PS staff would be required to meet 400,000 SW recipients face to face every week?

Careful now, this is AH you know?

brendansmith · 28-05-2010 12:52PM

marco_polo wrote: »

The whole point of the excercise is to free up time so that they can target the minority who are abusing the system.

There are too many minorities in my waterpark

Nodin · 28-05-2010 12:53PM

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

Hi. Your Special Treat is waiting for you. Make sure you drop by socialwelfare.ie/freemoney and click on special traets to collect yours. Opt out by working.

So if your company goes bust, and you end up on the stamps, then the dole, are you going to come back here and make stupid remarks at yourself?

geeky · 28-05-2010 12:56PM

ghostdancer wrote: »

why exactly is it ridiculous?

what benefit is there by making people go to their office once a month, sign a piece of paper, then go on their way?

when i was on the dole, it was a complete waste of time, as i still had to go to the post office each week and show them my Social Services card, the same one i show at the Welfare Office, to collect money.

they can still call people to come in and show proof that they're applying for work.

in fact, cost of implementing it aside, it's a bloody great idea.

- aside from the cost of implementing it
- aside from the fact that it makes fraud considerably easier
- aside from the technical difficulties that arise if someone doesn't have a phone (let's face it, they'll have to maintain a staff presence to cater for people without mobiles/credit, which defeats the 'overstretched' argument)

It's a great idea.

munchkin_utd · 28-05-2010 01:09PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Not as easy as that, have you ever tried using Google Maps on a phone?

I gather the Authorities will have cell site analysis and any other high tech GPS tracking technology at their finger tips.

they can have all the gps/ triangulation/ whatnot they want to ensure the phone is IN ireland.

if it just means then that your best mate in Ireland sends the text instead (maybe even give him your phone and get a cheap second one), so you can still swan off to Lanzarotte for months on end without a bother!!!

unemployed - sign on by text !!!

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