Social welfare claimants to sign on via text

JUST a year after it said social welfare recipients should produce photo ID because it was losing millions in fraudulent claims, the Government is planning to let claimants “sign on” by text.

In a move which Fine Gael TDs say will leave the system wide open to fraud, the Department for Social Protection has awarded a €1m contract to Hewlett Packard in Kildare to “develop and support a mobile phone-based solution for dynamic selection of and self-certification by claimants of unemployment benefits”.

To qualify for jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance, a jobseeker must fulfil a number of conditions, including being available for and genuinely seeking work. At regular intervals they must make a declaration that they are still unemployed, available for and actively seeking work.