Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 13 October 2016

Public Accounts Committee

2014 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 12 - Tackling Fuel Laundering
Chapter 15 - Taxpayer Compliance
2015 Revenue Accounts

9:00 am

Mr. Niall Cody:

Absolutely, but there have been changes in recent years. There have been three main policy changes. Most overpayments are as a result of sick leave. Sometimes people go on sick leave and then go above the threshold where pay gets reduced to half-pay or gets stopped. During the downturn and the change in rules, the threshold for sick pay was reduced or halved from six months to three months. More people hit the threshold following the sick leave policy change.

The other major change in the Civil Service has been the move to a shared service called PeoplePoint. Whereas up until 2013 we had full control over our payroll, from 2013 we became part of the shared services operation provided by PeoplePoint. It is acknowledged by those in PeoplePoint as well as all the constituent parties that the integration of the information technology systems that allows reporting of sick leave instances to PeoplePoint is improving but it is still not there. Certainly, for the first year and a half there were difficulties.

There is an active campaign to tackle the overpayments and enter into payment arrangements. In the past two years, while the amount has increased, the actual rate of increase has gone down significantly. We are now in a situation where we have PeoplePoint and a shared services payroll function as well as ourselves. We need to continue to build up the integrated IT system. I think this will be a feature of the appropriation accounts for all offices. We are more than 6,000 people or approximately one sixth of the Civil Service. The Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are the largest organisations. Therefore, because of our size and scale, there is a concentrated attempt on the part of PeoplePoint, which does not come under the auspices of ourselves, our central HR and all our managers to try to prevent the overpayments arising in the first place. We have also set up a proactive team to manage overpayments. In certain cases, the overpayments are particularly sensitive in that they mainly concern sick leave. We have to have a sensitive approach. It is a bit like what Deputy Cassells spoke about earlier. We have to agree an instalment arrangement or a deduction over time.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.