Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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66. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the review of working family payments and one parent family payments ahead of setting targets for 2021 following on from the Comptroller and Auditor General report. [40159/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Comptroller and Auditor General's chapter on control over welfare payments, which is a key element of my Department’s efforts to address potential fraud and error.

The Department has spent approximately €20 billion per annum across various social welfare schemes in recent years, with substantial additional expenditure this year, arising from the income support payments put in place to help workers unable to work because of public health restrictions. In order to ensure that these monies are properly spent my Department carries out a programme of reviews of entitlements across all schemes annually. This is an appropriate control function to ensure that my Department can properly account for the monies it spends each year.

As Deputies will be aware entitlement to payments from social welfare schemes can be subject to various conditions, depending on the particular scheme, and entitlement can also be subject to a means assessment. These conditions form the basis for customers of the Department being required to notify the Department if there are any changes in circumstances which may affect their entitlement.

My Department has examined the targets for control reviews in 2021 for the Working Family Payment (WFP) and One Parent Family Payment (OPFP) and consider that the current level of review is appropriate for the reasons outlined below:

- Working Family Payment (WFP) - WFP entitlement, once awarded, is payable for a period of 52 weeks. At end of each year a renewal application is sent to all recipients who must re-apply if they feel they still have an entitlement. The renewal application includes a review of employment status and earnings to ensure continuing eligibility to the scheme. In 2019, circa 56,000 renewal applications were issued and circa 47,000 re-applied for the scheme for another year.

One Parent Family Payment (OPFP) - OPFP claims are generally reviewed annually through a self-declaration process in order to:

- Ensure customers remain aware of the conditions of the scheme;

- Provide an opportunity for customers to notify the Department of any changes in their circumstances or employment that may affect their payment, and ensure that no overpayments arise, or to minimise any overpayment that might occur; and

- Provide an opportunity to ensure that customers are aware of any training, education, or employment opportunities that may be of interest. In this respect it should be noted that many recipients of the One Parent Family payment are in employment and it is appropriate that my Department should provide regular employment supports and advice to such customers.

The vast majority of reviews on both OPFP and WFP are self-declaration reviews, and are desk-assessed by an officer. However, it may sometimes be necessary to phone or interview customers for some clarification or further information on aspects of their self-declaration. In addition, a small number of cases may also be referred to Social Welfare Inspectors for further investigation if further information is required.

I trust that this clarifies matters for the Deputy.