Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 February 2014
142. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection in a situation where an overpayment to a person has occurred and is agreed, if her Department can force a person to pay more than 15% of his or her weekly payment towards the overpayment or to make a lump sum payment to her Department out of any resources the person may have; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8866/14]
View answer143. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection in a situation where an overpayment to a person has occurred and is agreed, if her Department is open to an offer of a one off payment of a sum less than the total amount owed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8867/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 142 and 143 together.
People who have incurred an overpayment from the Department of Social Protection have a liability under law to refund the amounts involved. (Section 338 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended) refers). They have received monies to which they were not entitled and every effort will be made to recover the amounts due through all available means.
Debt holders should be aware that a debt to the Department will remain on their records until fully recovered and will result in a reduction of all future entitlements up to and including state pension. Following the death of a customer who owes a debt, the Department will have a claim on any estate remaining. Currently my Department does not apply interest or penalties on the amounts owing.
Overpayments may be recovered by:
- payment of a lump sum;
- regular payments by the person to the Department;
- withholding arrears due to the person;
- deduction from ongoing social welfare payments due to the person;
- recovery from the person’s estate
The acceptable method and rate at which a debt is recovered differs from case to case. In the first instance, where there is evidence of sufficient funds available to repay the debt, the Department seeks to recover the debt in full. If a person who owes a debt to the Department offers to make a one off payment of a sum less than the total amount owed, the payment will be accepted, however, the outstanding balance will remain on the debt holder’s record to be recovered from future entitlement or the estate of the debtor. In general a debt is not written off while the debt holder is still alive.
The Social Welfare Act 2012 provides for recovery levels of up to 15% from the personal rate of a person’s social welfare payment without their consent. This amendment means that the Department is now in a position to ensure that all debt-holders in receipt of a payment from the Department, are repaying their debt.
In order to improve the capacity to recover overpayments from persons no longer dependent on social welfare, the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 provides for the introduction of Notice of Attachment powers for the recovery of overpayments directly from a person’s earnings or from monies held by them in financial institutions. The Department will only contemplate using these powers in cases where a person who owes a debt to the Department does not make a genuine attempt to discharge their debt and continues to ignore their obligations to repay what is due. Recourse to civil action to recover debts will also be undertaken where appropriate.
