Social Insurance

Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Questions (211)

Michael Ring

Question:

279 Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of complaints received in relation to employers not paying PRSI for their employees for the following years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009; the action taken on foot of these complaints; the sanctions that have been applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35410/10]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív)

The Department's Inspectorate, appointed under Section 250 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005, is responsible, inter alia, for ensuring that employers and self-employed people comply with the Act in relation to Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions. Employer compliance, in this regard, is monitored through employer enquiries and inspections which include detailed examinations of employers' records to ensure that correct PRSI payments are being made in respect of all employees. Where PRSI undercharges are confirmed, the Inspector sets out the PRSI arrears or underpayment in respect of each employee for each tax year and issues a demand to the employer for payment. Should the employer fail to respond satisfactorily, a statutory demand will issue by registered post and the employer given 14 days to respond. If the employer fails to respond, the case is considered for prosecution.

Employer enquiries on PRSI compliance can be referred either by a customer or by a Department official where irregularities on a customer's record are identified. Where an employee notifies the Department that his or her employer has not been remitting PRSI on their behalf, or where an irregularity in a customer's PRSI record is detected at claim processing stage, the case is referred to a Social Welfare Inspector to enquire into the matter. Details of the number of employer enquiries made by the Department in the years 2005-2009 are set out in the following table 1. The number of cases where PRSI undercharges were confirmed is included. The Department does not hold system records on the source of the complaint.

Table 1 — Employer Enquiries 2005-2009

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
No. cases	1,383	1,105	1,246	1,154	765
PRSI due	174	171	150	133	127

Employer enquiries may lead to an employer inspection. Details of the number of Employer PRSI Inspections/investigations for the years 2005-2009 are set out in the following table 2:

Table 2 — Employer Inspections 2005-2009

Year	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Number of inspections/investigations	710	602	531	474	379

Table 3 — Employer cases finalised in court 2005-2009

Year	Failure to pay PRSI on foot of demand	Failure to produce/maintain wages records	Failure to provide employment details for employees	Total employer cases finalised in court	Court outcome
2005	4	5	2	11	11 fined #
2006	2	3	2	7	6 fined
					1 POA*
2007	7	9	—	16	10 fined
					2 POA*
					4 struck out
2008	9	6	—	15	9 fined
					2 POA*
					3 struck out
					1 withdrawn
2009	2	4	1	7	3 fined
					1 POA*
					1 community service
					1 struck out
					1 withdrawn

# 1 case fined also received a suspended sentence.

* Probation of Offenders Act.

The Department is committed to ensuring that employers comply with their statutory obligations, thereby ensuring that employees do not suffer a delay in securing any social welfare entitlements and contributions to the Social Insurance Fund are made in an accurate and timely manner.