State paid €5.5m in social welfare overpayments due to official errors

Department of Social Protection errors led to €5.5m in welfare overpayments. File picture

More than €5.5m was paid out to welfare recipients by the State over the past two years due to errors by the Department of Social Protection.

In 2024, around 2,000 overpayments were made, totalling €2.25m, as a result of “official error”, according to newly released data.

In 2025, the value of overpayments rose by around 45% to €3.26m, paid to approximately 2,450 people.

The average overpayment in 2025 was roughly €1,300, although some individuals received more than one payment in error.

The Department of Social Protection said recoveries linked to official errors totalled €2.76m in 2024 and €3m in 2025.

However, those figures do not directly correspond to overpayments made in 2024 and 2025 and may include repayments relating to previous years.

The figures show that the scheme with the highest level of official error in 2025 was the Contributory State Pension.

More than €1.12m was incorrectly paid to pension recipients across 738 cases during the year.

That equated to an average overpayment of around €1,500 per case, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act.

A further €825,000 was incorrectly paid under Jobseeker’s Allowance in 512 separate cases of official error, averaging roughly €1,600 per case.

There were also overpayments totalling €284,000 in Illness Benefit and €259,000 under the One-Parent Family Payment.

Official errors also resulted in overpayments of €102,000 in Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance, €94,000 in Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit and €82,000 in Disability Allowance.

In 2024, the highest value of official errors occurred in Jobseeker’s Allowance, with overpayments totalling €613,000.

A further €472,000 was paid out incorrectly in Contributory State Pension payments and €222,000 in Jobseeker’s Benefit.

Asked about the records, a spokesperson said: “Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled.

“Overpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur where a person provides false or misleading information in their application or through error on the part of either the claimant or the Department.”

The spokesperson said mistakes by department staff in determining the correct level of payment represented just 2% of all overpayments in a given year.

They said recovery would be sought where a customer “is expected to have an awareness” that they were receiving more than their entitlement.

The department added that errors were addressed internally through ongoing training, mentoring and quality assurance checks, as well as IT system enhancements.