Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
600. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants in receipt of child benefit; the number of applicants audited each year; the way that applicants are selected for audit; the probability that the parent of a 13-year-old child would be audited once, twice, three, four and five times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37235/22]
View answerChild Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16 and 17, if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves.
In 2021, Child Benefit was paid to 630,000 customers in respect of 1.2 million children.
Control reviews on the Child Benefit scheme can arise from various sources including the Continuing Eligibility Certification process or from a change of circumstance for the customer. In 2021, eligibility checks were made on 169,000 customers. It was found that the payment should no longer be made in respect of 6,000 customers with the main reason being that they were no longer resident in the country. Control savings (monies that did not have to be expended because of this control work) in respect of these cases amounted to €46.1million, including €3.1m in overpayments which are being followed up.
The main control mechanism for Child benefit is the Continuing Eligibility Check (CEC) process. Customers are issued with a certificate every 12-18 months. The certificate is issued to the customer based on their month of birth with the specified month selected by Child Benefit control section on a rolling basis. CEC issues to all customers with that month of birth.
Parents of children of all ages up to 15 have the same probability of selection as part of the CEC process. The CEC process is one of many reasons a payment may be selected for review.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
