Inspectors save €200m in welfare payments

Welfare inspectors have recouped €200m from those claiming to be unemployed, lone parents and sick, it emerged today.

Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan today revealed his department saved an extra €30m during the first half of 2005 compared to the same time last year.

Mr Brennan vowed: “I will take whatever steps are needed to stop abuse of the social welfare system.

“It is equally important that my department’s resources are targeted at those most in need – we must reach the right people, with the right supports and at the right time.”

The savings included €66m in unemployment payments, €53m in one-parent family supports, and €36m in illness benefits.

The department also checked out 159,000 claims and passed on 231 files to the Chief Solicitor’s Office to be considered for prosecution.

Of those cases:

:: 168 people were taken to court and three were jailed,

:: 10 received suspended sentences,

:: 84 were fined,

:: 3 received community service orders

:: 58 received the benefit of the Probation Act.

Inspectors found that people claiming benefits mostly made false declarations or concealed information.

In other cases, recipients failed to notify the department of a change in circumstances, including married status or income.

Inspectors pored over files, visited homes, sent out questionnaires and checked medical records.

Mr Brennan said his department will continue its efforts to weed out people defrauding the welfare system.

The latest measures include:

::Checking the Revenue’s tax data to check the job status of unemployment and lone parent claimants

::Matching the new national marriage database against lone parent and widows/widowers claims and pensioners.

The department will spend over €12bn on welfare supports in 2005, double what it was four years ago.

Mr Brennan explained: “What that €12bn means is that for every €3 of taxpayer’s money the state will spend, €1 will be on direct welfare supports.

“I am determined to build on this record level of expenditure so that all our people left stranded by previous tides of economic growth fully share in our current prosperity.”

Last year the department gathered anti-fraud savings of €386m – an increase of more than one quarter on the 2003 figure of €306m.

An estimated 970,000 people on average are expected to claim weekly social welfare payments this year.

Overall, almost 1.5 million people, including dependants, will benefit from these payments.

That is two out of every five people in the state who are in one way or another, receiving vital welfare supports.