Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jun 1992

Vol. 421 No. 8

Written Answers. - Overpayment of Moneys.

William Cotter

Question:

234 Mr. Cotter asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline (a) the amount of money due to his Department because of overpayment in each of the years between 1987 and 1991 and (b) the amount of such money written off as unrecoverable in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Mr. McCreevy)

The figures requested by the Deputy are set out in the following tabular statement. Comprehensive details an analysis of overpayments and recoveries are presented in the annual reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General which are published together with the certified Appropriation Accounts. In addition, in his report for the year 1990, the Comptroller and Auditor General deals at length with the accounting treatment of overpayments and with the recent changes in the write-off policy which was sanctioned by the Department of Finance.

The very substantial increase in overpayments written off in 1990 is directly related to the introduction of revised accounting procedures for overpayments. Up to and including 1989 there was no facility to write-off outstanding balances on benefit overpayments while there were limited facilities in relation to assistance overpayments.

This resulted, over the years, in the accumulation of very large balances of outstanding overpayments, on which there was little or no chance of recovery. In order that these balances should more realistically reflect realisable sums, my Department applied for and obtained Department of Finance sanction to introduce a comprehensive write-off policy.

As a result £11,952,392 of outstanding social insurance overpayments and £4,150,388 of social assistance overpayments were written off as an exceptional measure in the year 1990. These amounts represented, for the greater part, overpayments arising at various times since 1952 on which there had been no recent recovery activity. As the social insurance amounts had been charged in the accounts of the year in which they occurred, their write-off did not involve any additional charge.

It is also important to note that this new time-based write-off facility is essentially an accounting adjustment, designed to ensure that figures for outstanding overpayments are more in line with what can reasonably be expected to be recovered. I might add that even where an overpayment has been written-off, recovery action is taken when the opportunity arises.

Year	Overpayments recorded (net of all cancellations)	Recoveries	Write Offs	Opening/Closing Balance
	£	£	£	£
1987	8,057,362	2,429,813	871,263	23,355,640
1988	10,995,219	2,548,188	2,336,836	29,465,835
1989	9,061,618	2,349,803	1,455,206	34,722,444
Adjustment due to the amalgamation of the Social Insurance Fund with the Occupational Injuries and Redundancy and Insolvency Funds	137,188
				34,859,632
1990	10,806,518	2,621,999	16,102,780	26,941,371
1991	10,950,273	2,716,369	7,851,184	27,324,091