Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 90: To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to deal with social welfare fraud; if there are any accurate figures on the amount of persons involved in fraud and the amounts involved. [38089/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department which processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and makes payments to some 1.4 million people every week at a cost of some €21 billion per annum. However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them.

For 2011, my Department has a target of reviewing 780,000 individual welfare claims and achieving €540 million in control savings. At the end of October, some €536 million in estimated control savings were reported and over 746,000 reviews have been carried out. For 2012, the target for control savings is provisionally set at €625 million, an increase of €85 million on the 2011 target.

The only fraud that my Department knows about as a fact is, by definition, proven fraud. While there are many perceptions/suspicions of fraud and people knowing 'for a fact' that a person is defrauding the social welfare system, these may not stand up to scrutiny. In this regard, it should be noted that some 190,000 people work and legitimately receive a social welfare payment. It can sometimes be perceived by members of the public that these people are defrauding the social welfare system, when in fact they are not.

In 2010, total overpayments amounted to €83.4 million representing 0.41% of total Departmental expenditure. Overpayments arising from suspected fraudulent activity amounted to less than 0.1% of total Departmental expenditure in 2010. It is important to emphasise, therefore, that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them each week.

As the Deputy may be aware, I recently launched a Fraud Initiative (2011-2013) which is aimed at putting in place a range of actions to combat fraud and abuse of the social welfare system and at ensuring that public confidence in the system is improved. A key priority for my Department is to ensure that fraudulent activity within the social welfare system is vigorously prevented and combated. Social welfare fraud undermines public confidence in the entire system as well as being unfair to other recipients of social welfare payments and taxpayers

Under the Initiative, there will be greater liaison by my Department at both central and local level and with employers, the business community generally and the groups representing social welfare recipients. This will raise awareness among those interested parties of my Department's policies and projects in relation to dealing with fraud and abuse. Those stakeholders will be encouraged to pass on specific information and concerns to the Department with a view to tackling social welfare fraud.

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.