Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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322. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there has been a change to the receipts issued by local offices to claimants; and if receipts still display the next date on which the person must attend the local office to sign on. [33374/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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As a standard part of the jobseekers claim process, customers are required to attend their local office to sign on at specified intervals. The customer is notified of their individual signing arrangements at the outset of their claim and are reminded each time they sign of their next signing day. To further assist the customer, a system is now in place whereby jobseeker customers who have consented to be contacted by mobile phone receive an SMS message to remind them that they are due to sign-on in the coming days. The SMS reminder mechanism will be made available to all jobseeker customers over the coming months.

The signing day reminder was removed from jobseeker payment receipts in recent weeks. This is purely a temporary measure and the reminder facility will be re-instated on payment receipts at the earliest possible opportunity. In addition to the signing process, customers are occasionally required to attend their local office as part of the programme to assist them in their attempts to secure employment. They also may be required to attend their local office for an in-depth review of their jobseeker entitlements. Written requests to attend such meetings are issued in advance to customers in all such cases.