Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Public Accounts Committee

Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund

9:00 am

Mr. Andy Harkness:

The Department conducts fraud and error surveys which indicate an excess of payment in excess of entitlement. Where that occurs to a material or significant level, we apply a threshold of approximately 1% of expenditure, which is the same for all audits we conduct. If that is exceeded, there is an expectation that we would draw attention to that in our report.