Written Answers Nos. 365-374
365. Deputy Francis Noel Duffy asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 978 of 17 January 2024, the definition of qualified children; the definition of dependant children eligible for the fuel allowance; if there is an age limit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3731/24]
View answerThe Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €382 million in 2024. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household.
For the purposes of Fuel Allowance, a dependent or qualified child is one for whom an Increase for a Qualified Child is payable, or in the case of an applicant with no primary social welfare scheme, the child must be in full-time education if aged between 18 and 22.
An Increase for a Qualified Child is only payable on the Departments schemes up to the age of 22.
Where the Increase for a Qualified Child on a fuel applicant’s claim ceases because the previously qualified child has turned 22, Fuel Allowance can remain in payment in cases where the previously qualified child remains in full-time education and is not in receipt of any disqualifying Social Welfare payment or in employment.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
366. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Social Protection if she can introduce a mechanism whereby teachers who are on career breaks are able to pay PRSI contributions and to have these contributions recognised; if she is aware that teachers who are on career breaks are unable to make contributions, which risks affecting their State pension entitlements and eligibility for maternity leave and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3754/24]
View answerPersons who are on career breaks, such as teachers, are able to maintain their social insurance record in a number of ways. Depending on their terms and conditions of their career break, such persons may engage in other employments which could be liable for PRSI contributions.
Furthermore, persons on career breaks who are engaged in home caring may qualify for pension caring supports including the Homecaring support and Homemakers scheme as long as they are registered as providing full time care to a child under twelve and/or to an incapacitated person. This period can be included in the person’s social insurance record in order to maintain their pension entitlement.
If such persons do not fall into the above categories, the voluntary contribution scheme may be available to them, depending on meeting the qualifying criteria. This scheme gives an opportunity to persons who were, but are no longer are, compulsorily insured under the social insurance system, to pay contributions directly to my Department. Voluntary contributions ensure continuity of social insurance for pension purposes during periods where former contributors are no longer insured as employed or self-employed persons, or are not in receipt of credited employment contributions.
The scheme’s main entry criteria require applicants to apply within 5 years of the end of the contribution year in which they last paid contributions or had credits on their record, and to have at least 520 social insurance contributions paid from either employment or self-employment.
Eligibility for maternity leave while on career break is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
367. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of fraudulent claims of payments through her Department, by payment type of those residing in the State and those residing outside the State, by county in each of the past ten years; the number of fraudulent claims, by payment type currently under investigation of those residing in the State, and those residing outside the State, by country; the cost to the State of all fraudulent claims and legal investigation costs for the same time period, per year of those residing in the State and those residing outside the State, by country, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3771/24]
View answerOverpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur where a person provides false or misleading information in their application or through error on the part of either the claimant or the Department. Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. In 2023 the total value of overpayments - as a percentage of total scheme expenditure was approximately 0.48%.
Cases involving fraudulent or suspected fraudulent activity arise where a deciding officer is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence that a person deliberately provided false or misleading information or wilfully concealed relevant information in relation to their entitlement. The Deputy will appreciate that there is a high evidential standard to be met in such cases.
The table below sets out the number of overpayments raised and the associated value of those cases where an element of fraudulent activity was suspected in the years from 2018 to 2023. Due to changes in my Department's debt reporting environment, information in respect of earlier years is not readily available.
|
Year |
No. of Cases |
Value of Overpayments due to Fraud or Suspected Fraud |
|
2018 |
7,766 |
€29,740,268 |
|
2019 |
6,963 |
€31,356,136 |
|
2020 |
5,338 |
€20,253,317 |
|
2021 |
6,290 |
€19,014,828 |
|
2022 |
5,597 |
€19,635,546 |
|
2023 |
5,097 |
€17,963,080 |
For the years 2018 to 2023, on average, the schemes with the highest number of cases where an element of fraudulent activity is suspected are: Jobseekers payments (71% of cases); Illness Benefit (7% of cases); Child Benefit (6% of cases); One Parent Family Allowance (4% of cases); Supplementary Welfare Allowance (2% of cases); State Pensions (2% of cases) and Disability Allowance (1% of cases). The remaining 7% of cases are spread across a number of schemes. During 2021 the Pandemic Unemployment Payment accounted for 7% of the overall cases for that year; for 10% of cases in 2022; and 5% of cases in 2023.
Just under 6% of the overall number of cases (approximately 2,300 of just over 37,000 cases) during the period in question were cases where the person was deemed to be absent from the State. 69% of these related to Child Benefit claims; 14% related to jobseekers’ claims; 5% related to Disability Allowance claims; and the remaining 12% of cases are spread across a number of other schemes. It is not possible to provide a breakdown by country.
My Department carries out a range of control measures across all its schemes to prevent, detect and deter fraud. These includes checks both at the award stage and subsequent reviews. Control reviews across all schemes include data matching with Departmental and other records; seeking confirmation of ongoing eligibility from claimants; and home visits by Social Welfare Inspectors where this is considered necessary. During 2023 provisional figures indicate that just under 632,500 reviews of social welfare claims have been undertaken, resulting in savings of almost €527 million.
Preventing fraudulent claims from entering the social welfare system or carrying out review activity to identify possible fraudulent claims in payment are key requirements for my Department. Systems and processes are designed and continue to be developed to support staff in meeting these requirements. A significant number of staff are assigned to control functions, including staff in scheme areas; Control Division; Social Welfare Inspectors; staff of the Special Investigations Unit, including seconded members of An Garda Síochána; and Data Analysts.
It is not possible to disaggregate the cost of tackling social welfare fraud from the overall administration costs of the Department given that many of the tasks associated with the control and anti-fraud measures are an inherent element of the roles of social welfare officials as detailed above.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
368. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has availed of services and-or consultancy from a list of related companies (details supplied) in the past five years to date; if so, if she will provide a schedule of costs and the purpose for which the company was engaged; and if she continued to use services provided by it. [3788/24]
View answerI can confirm that my Department has not engaged Grant Thornton or related companies on a contract for service or on a consultancy basis from January 2019 to date. Therefore, no costs have been incurred.
I trust this clarifies that matter for the Deputy.
369. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection when an appeal for a State pension contribution for a person (details supplied) will be processed and a decision made; the reason for the delay in processing this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3823/24]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered on the 9th May 2023. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought.
These papers were received on the 27th October 2023 and the case was assigned to an Appeals Officer on 16th November 2023, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, hold an oral appeal hearing. The Appeals Officer has been contacted to expedite the decision in this case.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
370. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection when the full amount of disability benefit will be paid in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3831/24]
View answerDisability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.
My Department received correspondence from the person concerned notifying a change of circumstances regarding their DA.
I can confirm that following a review, based on the information provided to my Department, the maximum personal rate of DA has been applied to the person's payment with effect from 24 May 2023. The first payment of the new rate will be made by the person's chosen payment method on 31 January 2024.
Arrears of payment due from 24 May 2023 to 30 January 2024 will issue as soon as the calculation is complete.
The person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 23 January 2024.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
371. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on a non-contributory pension application (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3906/24]
View answerState pension non-contributory is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record.
An application for state pension non-contributory was received from the person concerned on 4 August 2023. On 15 August 2023, the case was referred to a Social Welfare Inspector to investigate the means of the person for pension eligibility purposes.
The Inspector returned their report to the Deciding Officer on 19 September 2023, confirming that, although they had interviewed the person concerned on 22 August 2023, some requested documentation was not provided and the Inspector was unable to establish the person’s means.
The Deciding Officer has been in contact with the person’s Social Worker, with a view to obtaining the outstanding documentation. The Social Worker has confirmed, on 25 January 2024, that they are liaising with the person concerned and their family, to assist in providing the requested documentation.
On receipt of the documentation, the Inspector will finalise their report. The Deciding Officer will make a determination on eligibility of the person concerned for state pension non-contributory and the person will be notified of the outcome in writing.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
372. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Social Protection the current timeframe for social welfare appeals; what resources are in place to address appeals; if she will allocate extra resources to address backlogs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3915/24]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.
The average processing times for all appeals finalised in 2023 was 16 weeks. The average time taken to process appeals which required an oral hearing was 29.2 weeks and the time to process appeals determined on a summary basis was 17.6 weeks.
Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years and further improvements in appeals processing times are a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer. A significant Appeals Modernisation Project is currently underway the goal of which is to streamline and enhance the end-to-end appeals process for the customer, the Social Welfare Appeals Office and business areas across the Department.
As part of this project a new IT system went live on 6 November 2023. The new system has significantly reduced the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office and in time will reduce the overall average processing times. Additional staff were assigned to the office as part of the project to assist with the preparation for and transition to the new IT system and the establishment of new procedures.
I trust this clarifies matters the matter for the Deputy.
373. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection in relation to comments made by the Secretary General of her Department at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) (details supplied), to correct the record with the PAC that sample/test cases were and are used to ensure that the same conclusion is reached in cases, contrary to the erroneous information given to the PAC. [3952/24]
View answerThere is no requirement to correct the record with the Public Accounts Committee and the suggestion by the Deputy that erroneous information was given to the PAC is unfounded. In fact, if the Deputy reads the transcripts of both meetings, he will see that the Secretary General and the Chief Appeals Officer were consistent in what they said. They both stated that decisions with respect to insurability of employment decisions are made through the application of criteria agreed with the Social Partners and published in the Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status.
As I have previously outlined to the Deputy these criteria were developed from a review of a number of sample or so-called ‘test cases’ in the 1990s. The examination of these cases, taking account of case law from the courts, allowed the identification of five criteria that could be used by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers when making decisions in relation to the correct class of PRSI applying to a worker’s employment. The objective in doing this was to ensure consistency in decision making, something which I am sure the Deputy will accept is a necessary part of public administration.
The criteria identified from the examination of these cases formed the basis of the approach subsequently agreed with the Social Partners under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and set out in the Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status. These criteria are applied by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers in my Department on each occasion that they assess the PRSI status of a worker’s employment. Employment status decisions are not made by the Department or the Social Welfare Appeals Office without an investigation having been carried out into the actual circumstances of the person's employment with each decision being based on the application of the five criteria to those circumstances.
I trust that this clarifies the matter.
374. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection when an appeal for invalidity pension lodged on 8 May 2023 will be decided (details supplied); the reason for delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3959/24]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered on the 24th August 2023. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought.
These papers were received on 5th October 2023 and the case was assigned to an Appeals Officer on 17th October 2023, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, hold an oral appeal hearing.
The Appeals Officer has been contacted to expedite this case and has confirmed that all of the evidence submitted will be considered in reaching a decision.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
