Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Control savings are an estimate of the value of the various control activities across the Department's schemes. They represent an estimate of the value of prevented future social welfare expenditure on claims that would have been incurred if the control work had not been carried out. Control savings are used as a performance indicator for year-on-year activities. They do not include any cases of departmental or clerical error, or any case in which a customer voluntarily told the Department of a change in his or her means or circumstances that resulted in an adjustment of his or her rate of payment. The control savings target for 2012 is €645 million. A further target of reviewing 945,000 individual welfare claims has been set. These targets will be kept under review over the course of the year.

Actual moneys are recovered when the Department assesses overpayment in individual cases and subsequently recovers such debt. If, following a review of a claim in payment, it is confirmed that a client is receiving a payment to which he or she is not entitled, or is receiving a payment at a higher rate than that to which he or she is entitled, a deciding officer makes a revised decision on the entitlement. Deciding officers decide the effective date of a revised decision, having regard to the new facts or evidence and the circumstances of the case. This can result in an assessment of overpayment. In 2010, total overpayment amounted to €83.4 million, which represented 0.41% of total departmental expenditure. Overpayment arising from activity suspected of being fraudulent amounted to €25.9 million in 2010. The overpayment figures for 2011 will not be released until they have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Social welfare fraud undermines public confidence in the entire system. It is unfair to other recipients of social welfare payments, to businesses that are run on a legitimate basis and to taxpayers. The fraud initiative 2011–2013 sets out a range of actions to combat fraud and abuse of the social welfare system and to ensure public confidence and trust in the system. These actions will be reviewed periodically and updated, as required, given emerging trends.

As Minister, I am very conscious of the need to protect public money and I am determined to ensure that abuse of the system is prevented and is dealt with effectively when detected.

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