Dáil Question: Will the Dept of Social Protection’s Anti-Fraud Strategy cost more than it will save?

By Thomas Pringle
Updated: 17th October 2019

______________________________________________
For Oral Answer on : 25/09/2019
Question Number(s): 6,7,14 Question Reference(s): 38879/19, 38835/19, 38798/19
Department: Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Asked by: Brendan Howlin T.D., Willie O’Dea T.D., Thomas Pringle T.D.
______________________________________________

QUESTION

* To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated amount it will cost to review over 750,000 social welfare claims in 2019 as part of the new anti-fraud strategy; the estimated savings that will be made from the review; the timeline of the review; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

– Thomas Pringle T.D.

For ORAL answer on Wednesday, 25 September, 2019.

REPLY

I launched my Department’s new Compliance and Anti-fraud Strategy last week, covering the years 2019 to 2023.

While it is acknowledged that the vast majority of people on social welfare are claiming the correct entitlement due to them, my Department has a duty to ensure that non-compliance in the social welfare system is minimised, so that resources can be focussed on those who need them most.

This Strategy sets out how my Department will tackle welfare non-compliance during the period in question and it builds upon the successes of the previous Strategy which ran from 2014 to 2018.

The new Strategy comprises four pillars: “Prevent”, “Deter”, “Detect” and “Account”. My Department’s objectives under each of these pillars are:

To prevent error or non-compliance entering the system in the first instance, by having in place robust scheme application channels and clearly defined assessment processes;
To discourage attempts to defraud the social welfare system by actively pursuing the recovery of overpayments and considering cases for prosecution where there has been deliberate fraud;
To detect instances of fraud and error in the social welfare system as quickly as possible through various control measures and techniques; and
To protect monies entrusted by the taxpayer and authorised by the Oireachtas through appropriate governance procedures, oversight and monitoring.

It is underpinned by a comprehensive implementation plan, which outlines how we intend to achieve our objectives. Of course, we must remain alert to new and emerging forms of fraud, and so our approach will remain flexible and dynamic in terms of how it is structured.

An important new initiative relates to the need to tackle false self-employment which is contributing to a drain on the Social Insurance Fund and the denial of employment rights to affected workers. My Department is establishing a new unit of Social Welfare Inspectors (SWIs) which will be focused solely on false self-employment.

As part of the new Strategy, the Department plans to conduct over 750,000 reviews of social welfare claims over the course of this year. This represents an increase on the 742,000 reviews conducted last year. The target for savings resulting from these reviews in 2019 is €530m.

Control reviews take place across the range of schemes operated by Department and can take a variety of forms. They include desk-based assessments of customer claims, face-to-face interviews with customers by trained investigators, home visits, audits of employers’ PRSI records, specialist investigations, self-declarations by customers and joint enquiries and operations with other State agencies, including Revenue. Reviews looking at the medical conditionality underpinning certain schemes are also undertaken.
Reviews arise from both targeted and random case selections and where specific information comes to the attention of the Department. In this context, it should be noted that customers are under a legal obligation to report any change in their circumstance (income or means) to the Department and such notifications may also trigger a review of a person’s entitlement.

These reviews, and the other activities described in the Strategy, form part of the control work which is a core function of all officers of my Department. For this reason, the cost of the work under the Strategy cannot be disaggregated from overall Departmental expenditure.

It is my hope that this Strategy will give strong assurances to Irish society generally that the system of control that we operate is robust and effective.

I hope that this clarifies the matters for the Deputies.

ENDS