Welfare clampdown nets €228m

A GOVERNMENT crackdown on welfare fraud has yielded more than €228 million in savings so far this year and has prompted a major surge in the number of reports of suspected fraud by members of the public.

New figures from the Department of Social and Family Affairs reveal that over the first six months of this year around 328,000 individual social welfare claims were reviewed and more than 2,500 reports of suspected welfare fraud by members of the public were investigated.

This compared to just 362 reports in the same period last year.

A review of almost 30,000 One Parent Family payments yielded more than €55m in savings and was the largest single saving achieved.

A little more than 16,000 pension payments were reviewed, an exercise that resulted in savings of more than €45m.

A review of more than 114,000 child benefit payments resulted in savings of almost €39m.

Almost 800 employers underwent Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) inspections to check their compliance, with 77% found to be fully compliant.

Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin said there were 620 staff across the department working in areas that were related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system.

Ms Hanafin said a major new feature of the effort to counter welfare fraud was the massive increase in reports of suspected abuse by the general public.

The minister revealed how the department uses information from state agencies and bodies to data match and cross-check facts at initial claim stage and for on-going eligibility to entitlement.

“Data matching is a very effective method of identifying high-risk claims for review and is an example of good cross-departmental co-operation,” said Ms Hanafin.

There was also good cross-border co-operation regarding investigations, she said.

Ms Hanafin also provided a breakdown of legal proceedings that are being taken for suspected welfare fraud.

She revealed that a total of 94 cases had been forwarded to the Chief State Solicitor’s Office to initiate proceedings in the first six months of this year.

She said there were also 190 cases finalised in court, of which 174 related to job seekers’ claims.

A total of 126 of these cases had fines imposed, four were given a prison sentence, 19 given the Probation Act while 14 received a suspended sentence.

The minister revealed there were also 851 cases with either the Chief State Solicitor’s Office or local state solicitors at various stages of the prosecution process.

Ms Hanafin said 16 additional social welfare inspectors were appointed this year.

This had brought the number of general inspectors to almost 400, with 87 inspectors attached to the special investigation unit working full-time on control.

The public can submit reports of social welfare fraud and abuse to the department in confidence and anonymously by email, phone or in writing. See www.welfare.ie for more details.