Brendan Griffin
Question:295. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will set up a housing assistance payment fraud unit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2844/23]
View answerTuesday, 24 January 2023
Questions (295)
Written answers
Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support for people who have a long-term housing need. In order for a household to qualify for HAP, they must first be assessed as eligible for social housing support by their local authority. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP and those households must source their own accommodation in the private rental sector. The accommodation sourced by tenants should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned.
Limerick City and County Council provides a highly effective HAP transactional shared service on behalf of all local authorities. The HAP Shared Services Centre (SSC) manages the collection of all HAP tenants’ differential rents, on behalf of the relevant local authority, and the payment of all HAP rents to landlords on behalf of tenants supported by the HAP scheme.
Once a HAP application has been received and confirmed as valid by the relevant local authority, it is entered on the system by the local authority and then submitted for processing and payment by the HAP SSC.
Local authorities are responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of an internal control system to prevent and detect errors and suspected fraud. In addition, the Local Government Audit Service undertakes an annual audit of the HAP SSC.
My Department also carries out control reviews to identify the incidence of error and suspected fraud in payments. This has involved the adoption of formal procedures for liaising with both the HAP SSC and local authorities to check randomly selected HAP tenancies on a monthly basis.