I am informed by the National Shared Services Office that an overpayment to staff of salary, allowances and expenses can and does occur across the entire public service for a number of reasons, including late notification, after the payroll closed and the file has issued to the bank for payment.
In addition, the reform of sick leave in the public service, while creating significant savings and standardisation of administration and elimination of legacy issues, has meant that staff are reaching sick leave thresholds earlier, which increases the risk of a pay adjustment not being notified in a timely manner.
Shared Services is reliant on employees and managers notifying sick leave on the first day of occurrence. Late or delayed notification results in overpayments. Regular communications were issued by the NSSO to civil service staff to notify them of their obligations and an intensified information campaign is also planned for 2018 with Local HR.
In relation to the specific queries raised by the Deputy, I am advised that the data provided in the table is for 2017 and is estimated as it is subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Question
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Response
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The number of persons whose payroll is administered by the NSSO to the end of 2017
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124,500 people
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The number of persons whose payroll is administered by the NSSO who were in receipt of an overpayment at the end of 2017
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2,412 people
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The percent of those overpayments arising from errors in the NSSO to end of 2017
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10%
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The highest overpayment value recorded by the NSSO
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€60,457 and this was a processing error in a retirement case that has been fully recouped
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The estimated average overpayment value during 2017
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€2,036
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The amount recovered in 2016 – no estimated 2017 figures available yet
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€2.015 million for 2016
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The estimated total amount paid to the 124,5000 people in receipt of payroll and pension payments from the NSSO in 2017
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€4.2 billion
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The estimated (not yet audited) total value of overpayments for those customers whose payroll is administered by the NSSO to the end of 2017
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€3.7m
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