Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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165. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will arrange for research to be conducted assessing the impact on persons and families of deducting 5%, 10% and 15% respectively of their personal weekly rates in order to ascertain whether excessive hardship is being caused by the recent policy change allowing for deductions of up to 15% without consent. [10433/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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People who have incurred an overpayment from the Department of Social Protection have a liability under law to refund the amounts involved - Section 338 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended) refers. They have received monies to which they were not entitled and the Department has a responsibility to ensure that all overpayments are repaid in full. Interest or penalties on the amounts owing is not applied.

Effective debt recovery is seen as an integral part of the deterrent to fraudulent claiming. A debt will remain on the record of an individual until fully recovered and will result in a reduction of all future entitlements up to, and including, state pension. Following the death of a customer who owes a debt, the Department will have a claim on any estate remaining.

As the Deputy is aware, the Social Welfare Act 2012 introduced a provision allowing for a deduction of an amount up to 15% of the weekly personal rate payable to a person for the purposes of the recovery of an overpayment without the person’s consent. The deduction applies to the person’s personal rate only, and does not affect payment of any adult or child dependent allowances, or any other allowances that are in payment.

A deduction of 15% from a person’s personal rate of payment allows them to retain 85% of that payment. The person concerned is offered the opportunity to give his/her views on the proposed deduction. Any views offered by the person will be considered before deductions are made from a social welfare payment. In the circumstances where the person has been in receipt of money to which they were not entitled, this is considered to be reasonable. The Department has no plans to carry out research along the lines suggested by the Deputy.