Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 249: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the measures in place to deal with unfounded charges of welfare fraud made against genuine benefit recipients; and if it is normal procedure to suspend benefit payments in such cases while the charge is being investigated. [39833/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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. However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them.

The Deputy may be aware that I recently launched a new 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 to ensure there is public confidence and trust in the system. My Department accepts reports of possible fraud from members of the public in relation to operation of its schemes and uses both a dedicated phone number and a facility on the Department's website for this purpose. Members of the public are asked to provide as much detail as possible about the case they are reporting and they can do so anonymously.

Reports can be made as follows:

· By email: www.welfare.ie

· By phone: (01) 704 3000, ask for Central Control Section or (071) 9672648 or Locall: 1890 927999.

· By Post: Central Control Division, DSP, Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

All anonymous or confidential reports are examined and, where relevant, are referred to Scheme owners and/or to the Department's Inspectors.

However, it is important to note that a payment is not normally suspended or stopped solely on the basis of an anonymous report. The anonymous report, however, may be a trigger for the instigation of a review of a customer's entitlement. A Social Welfare Inspector may then deem it appropriate to interview the customer and to carry out a full review of the circumstances and means of the customer in order to determine on-going entitlement to the relevant payment. The Inspector may then send his report on the case to one of the Department's deciding officers for a decision regarding entitlement. Where the review indicates that the customer is not entitled to the relevant payment, the claim may be suspended, reduced or terminated.

The following are the number of anonymous reports received in the period January – November 2011:

In approximately 12,300 of these cases, a report of suspected fraud was sent to the relevant area for examination. Some clients about whom a report was received were in receipt of more than one payment. In over 3,800 of the cases received in 2011, it was not possible to issue a report to an investigator due to either a lack of information supplied, or no claim being in payment or the information reported would not impact on entitlement.

My Department is very conscious of its obligation to protect public money and is determined to ensure that abuse of the system is prevented and is dealt with effectively when detected. Therefore, it is the Department's policy to review all customers on an ongoing basis, and in addition, all cases of suspected abuse are referred for investigation. However, my Department is also very conscious of the fact that most social welfare recipients are fully entitled to their payments.