Over 170 cases of welfare fraud brought to court
The Department of Employment of Affairs and Social Protection brought 177 alleged welfare fraud cases to court last year and considered another 200.
The department was unable to say how much money had been saved through its welfare fraud activities in 2018, but said more than 14,800 individual reports of suspected fraud or wrong-doing were received from members of the public and dealt with last year.
The department’s prosecution service considered just over 360 cases for prosecution during 2018, and 177 cases were decided by the courts, with convictions secured in 160 cases referred by the department.
The number of cases referred to An Garda Síochána for prosecution under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 in 2018 was 74.
The Government has been consistently criticised for overstating the cost savings of its fraud and control activities, but a department spokesperson said: “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.”
It also pointed out that where recovery of an overpayment is concerned, the department has a statutory obligation to inform the person concerned of the overpayment and the methods available to recoup this sum.
The spokesperson said that in most cases, the department agrees a recovery plan with the customer at a level of repayment that avoids imposing financial hardship on them.
Where there is no engagement, the department can recover up to 15% of the personal rate from an ongoing payment and also has powers to recover funds held in bank accounts or to attach the earnings of a person where they refuse to engage with the department to recover sums overpaid.
As for the more than 14,800 tip-offs of alleged fraud made to the department last year, 11,914 (80%) were received online via the department’s website, 2,358 (16%) by phone, and the balance were received by post.
The department said the highest proportion of reports related to persons who were said to be claiming a payment and working at the same time.
One area in which the department did provide a figure as to cost savings was in the recovery of maintenance from liable relatives.
The department said it secured savings of €3.62m as a result of Liable Relative Unit activity in 2018, via savings in cases where the One- Parent Family Payment was cut as a result of an increase in maintenance, where the One-Parent Family Payment was either stopped or disallowed, and in direct payments to the department.
