Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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654. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the measures his Department is taking to counter social welfare fraud; if he will provide, by payment type, the amounts recovered from 2011 to 2016, inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1556/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The majority of people in receipt of a payment from the Department of Social Protection receive what they are entitled to be paid. Nevertheless, my Department recognises that abuse of the welfare system is an ongoing reality and must be tackled proactively. Anti-fraud measures are set out in the Department’s Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy 2014 – 2018 and are designed to prevent and detect fraud, to ensure effective oversight of schemes, to pursue prosecution of offenders and the recovery of any overpaid entitlements identified. The Strategy and annual reports on implementation is published on the Department’s website – www.welfare.ie.

All Departmental staff exercise a control and compliance function in processing new applications and reviewing existing entitlements. The systems used to support schemes are also designed to detect wrongful claiming and to highlight anomalies. In addition, the Department’s inspectorate undertakes detailed examination of claims on a risk assessed and random basis. This is supplemented by at least three fraud and error surveys of Departmental schemes annually. The findings from these surveys support the design and targeting of control actions on schemes, as is found necessary. These survey reports are published and subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

In addition, the Deputy should note that my Department’s Special Investigation Unit, which comprises trained inspectors and Garda officers, is tasked with undertaking targeted and systematic examination of claims to tackle fraud and to work with other enforcement agencies to identify more serious breaches of the law.

Cross-functional and targeted actions are undertaken - both internally and in joint operations with other national and international agencies - to ensure a strategic response to high risk sectors or where fraud is considered to be most prevalent. In particular, actions are focused on sectors of the economy where there is a risk of concurrent working and claiming social welfare payments.

Overall, my Department conducts of the order of one million claim reviews annually.

The Deputy should also note that the continued roll-out of the Public Services Card has considerably reduced the potential for identity fraud and the Department has deployed identity and analytics software and other intelligence systems to reinforce its fraud prevention work. Members of the public also play an important role in supporting these anti-fraud activities and some 19,000 reports from concerned citizens have been received during in 2016.

The Department seeks the recovery of all sums overpaid and its ability to recover overpayments has been strengthened by recent legislative provisions and the introduction of a modern debt management system at the end of 2014. Table 1 summaries the total recovered in each of the years 2011 to 2016 while Table 2 shows the value of recoveries made where the overpayment was considered to be of a fraudulent nature for the years 2015 and 2016 – this data is not available for earlier years. The Deputy will appreciate that the outturn for 2016 is subject to further validation and is therefore subject to change.

TABLE 1 : Overpayment of Social Welfare Assistance and Benefit Recovered 2011-2016

TABLE 2: Recovery of suspected fraud overpayments by scheme type - 2015 and 2016

Finally, the Deputy should note that I am looking at various additional control measures that I hope to roll out in 2017. My aim is to strengthen the legislative provisions to deter abuse of the social welfare system. These include publishing the names of persons who are prosecuted for social welfare fraud and applying interest on overpayments resulting from fraud.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.