Successful tip-offs to welfare not recorded
Earlier this week, Social Protection Minister, Leo Varadkar, launched a publicity campaign promoting his Department’s online and telephone fraud-reporting services.
However, figures released to the Irish Examiner reveal that one in four reports of fraud by members of the public lacked enough information to warrant further investigation, or had no bearing on any entitlements received by the subject of the complaint.
The Department received 54,066 allegations of welfare fraud by members of the public in the three years up to, and including, 2016, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.
However, of these, 15,869 allegations contained “insufficient information to commence review of entitlement, or entitlement would not be affected by information received”, said the Department.
“While there may be a perception of fraud, when a case is examined, the individuals suspected may be doing something that is allowed under the rules of the particular scheme, or they may not be in receipt of a welfare payment,” the Department said.
“For instance, a person may be encouraged to work and still receive some level of income support from the Department, provided the levels of earnings are known to the Department.
“This is often the situation with a person receiving a One-Parent Family Payment and working part-time.”
While there were 41,731 investigations between 2013 and 2016, following tip-offs, the Department has no figures on the number of frauds detected as a result.
“A payment is not suspended or stopped solely on the basis of a report received,” the Department said.
“The report provides a ‘trigger’ for the instigation of a review of a specific entitlement and further investigation, if that is considered to be warranted.
“Given the nature of the reports, the Department does not track each individual report through the review and statutory decision process, given the hearsay nature of the material such reports contain,” the Department said.
“Anonymous or confidential reports of abuse do not form any part of the evidence, when a case is being considered for prosecution,” the statement added.
Members of the public made 18,866 allegations of fraud to the Department in 2014, 16,456 such claims in 2015, and 18,744 last year.
The Department has no figures for the amounts saved by fraud detection, but claimed that its ‘control measures’, implemented to prevent fraud and identify bogus claims, saved €500m last year.
While Minister Varadkar had said, this week, that 20,800 allegations of social welfare fraud were dealt with by his Department last year, some of these were allegations received in 2015.
The figures also revealed that there were 13,248 cases last year of a welfare overpayment due to a mistake by the Department.
