Social welfare inspectors and gardaí save €62m in fraud cases

Once SAFE registered, people are issued a Public Services Card which they can use to prove their identity when accessing public services.

More than 470 social welfare fraud cases are before the courts and almost 390 further cases are being considered for prosecution, according to new figures.

A fraud team inside the Department of Social Protection conducted over 16,500 investigations in 2022.

This team, which also comprises gardaí seconded to the department, was able to stop €62m from being defrauded from the State.

According to the department’s annual report for 2022, some €470m was saved across various control measures put in place.

This included almost €112m in overpayments, which the department said can occur when a person claiming social welfare assistance provides false or misleading information in their application or through error either on their part or the department.

Of the €111.6m in overpayments, some €80.5m has been repaid to date.

The most serious of cases, involving suspected fraud, are referred to the department’s Special Investigations Unit.

The report said this unit is supported by seconded officers from An Garda Síochána “specifically assigned to support complex investigations”.

It said that during 2022, SIU inspectors completed over 16,500 investigations, out of an annual target of 17,000 for the year.

“Total savings to end of December amounted to over €62m out of an annual target of €56m,” the report said.

It said the department provides identity management services to several public service agencies. 

“This facilitates the use of the Personal Public Service (PPS) Number in the delivery of a range of public services, developing online services, and enhancing systems for control of fraud and abuse,” the report said.

It said a total of 305,889 PPS Numbers were allocated in 2022.

It said the department’s SAFE registration process “authenticates” the identity of a person and enables customers access to public services more efficiently and seeks to preserve their privacy.

Once SAFE registered, people are issued a Public Services Card (PSC) which they can use to prove their identity when accessing public services.

The report said over 3.8 million people have been SAFE registered to date, 275,000 during 2022.

“By the end of 2022, as a result of the SAFE registration process, a total of 284 cases of suspected identity fraud have been referred for investigation. Of these, 22 cases were referred in 2022,” it said.