€140m per year lost in welfare fraud and errors
The €2.68m-a-week losses in payments to jobseekers, combined with significant losses in other social welfare schemes, has prompted the C&AG to recommend the Department of Social Protection carry out much more frequent fraud and error reviews.
It found that schemes with expenditure of over €500m are only being surveyed as little as once every seven to 10 years — the family income supplement has not been reviewed for fraud and errors since 2005.
The C&AG focused on fraud and error surveys on three schemes which had been carried out between the end of 2012 and the end of 2013 — jobseeker’s allowance, rent supplement, and the widow/widower/surviving civil partner contributory pension.
The jobseeker’s allowance scheme had 295,000 recipients and expenditure of €3.1bn in 2013.
A survey of a random sample of 1,000 cases was carried out. It revealed 119 cases of customer errors (the claimant provided inaccurate or incomplete information or did not report a change of circumstance); nine cases of departmental errors (benefits paid incorrectly due to inaction, delays or mistakes by social welfare staff); and 21 cases of suspected fraud.
In the fraud cases, the claimants either:
- Failed to provide the valid documentation;
- Had greater means than the limits for entitlement;
- Were not available for work, because they were living abroad, for example;
- Or were found not to be entitled to a dependent adult payment.
The rent supplement scheme cost €373m in 2013 and had 80,000 recipients. Again, 1,000 random cases were selected for review. Customer errors were identified in 55 cases; department errors in 67 cases; and suspected fraud was identified in 38 cases. The department estimated that €390,000 was lost per week through fraud and error.
The widow/widower/ surviving civil partner contibutory pension scheme was paid to 117,000 recipients in 2013 with an expenditure of €1.3bn. Following the survey, the department estimated the weekly cost of fraud and errors at €190,000.
