Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 23 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 7

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Fraud.

John Gormley

Question:

344 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the amount of social welfare money recouped by his Department from fraudulent claims for each of the years from 1990 to date as a percentage of total payments each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5218/99]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

The overpayments of social welfare benefits can arise due to a variety of reasons including fraud or suspected fraud on the part of claimants as well as errors in the provision of information and in the processing of payments.

The latest year for which statistics of overpayments are available is 1997. In that year, 11,185 overpayments amounting to £14.5 million were attributed to fraud or suspected fraud. A further 23,499 overpayments, amounting to £6.2 million, arose due to a variety of other reasons including errors by claimants and departmental error.

The following table sets out the scheme expenditure, the total amount of overpayments assessed, the amount attributable to fraud, and the amount recovered in each year from 1990 to 1997.

Year	Scheme expenditure	Total Overpaid	Fraud	Recovered
	£000	£000	£000	£000
1990	2,584,232	11,027	7,441	2,622
1991	2,861,981	11,244	6,791	2,716
1992	3,179,679	13,043	7,382	3,120
1993	3,358,132	12,208	9,097	4,060
Year	Scheme expenditure	Total Overpaid	Fraud	Recovered
	£000	£000	£000	£000
1994	3,452,214	16,000	11,461	5,356
1995	3,871,411	16,438	11,632	6,607
1996	4,031,980	18,853	13,644	7,710
1997	4,157,974	20,781	14,520	8,912

Every effort is made to recover overpayments having regard to the capacity of the individuals concerned to make repayments. In some cases it may be possible to recover the overpayment immediately. It is not possible to say what percentage of overpayments in a year is recovered in the same year as details are not kept in that format. However, in 1997, £8.9 million was recovered in respect of both fraud and non-fraud overpayments, some of which occurred in that year and some in earlier years. Separate figures are not maintained for amounts recovered in respect of fraud overpayments.

Following a review of the procedures for recovering overpayments a new debt management strategy was developed in early 1998 to focus on a more effective system of recovery, with particular emphasis being directed at ensuring that those who have the capacity to repay are required to do so over a timeframe which reflects their financial situation.

Overpayments should be viewed in the context of the scale of operation of my Department. In 1997 the value of overpayments represented approximately half of one percent of total scheme expenditure. There were some 870,000 recipients of a weekly social welfare payment at the end of 1997 and over half a million families were in receipt of child benefit.