Controls to prevent welfare fraud save £214m

Controls to prevent social welfare fraud resulted in savings of £214 million last year by the Department of Community, Family and Social Affairs.

The Department also had almost 200 successful prosecutions of employers and employees charged with suspected fraud or social welfare abuses. Some 28 employers were convicted for a number of offences, including failure to pay PRSI arrears and obstructing a social welfare inspector.

The Minister for Community, Family and Social Affairs, Mr Ahern, in a reply to a written Dail question, said the savings of approximately £214 million were made mainly in unemployment payments, which resulted in savings of £107 million.

The Department saved £36 million in sickness payments and £53 million in pensions, including one-parent family payments. Inspection officials from the Department also recovered £10.4 million in unpaid PRSI contributions.

The Department had a "comprehensive range of arrangements in place" to ensure fraud and abuse was kept to a minimum and had some 600 staff "who are specifically involved in control activity, either as members of scheme control units, investigators and medical assessors".

He was responding to Labour deputy Mr Sean Ryan (Dublin North). Mr Ryan asked for the breakdown of social welfare fraud and abuse detection for 2000. He also wanted to know the level of complicity among employers.

Mr Ahern told Mr Ryan that the abuse took a number of forms. One instance was where "people claiming social welfare payments make false declarations or conceal material factors in order to obtain payment". Other cases involved personation, working while claiming social welfare payments or failure by an employer to comply with PRSI obligations.

Details of the extent of employer complicity in social welfare fraud generally were not available but last year 213 prosecutions were taken against employers and employees, with convictions in 199 cases.

Offences by the 28 employers convicted included failure to pay PRSI arrears, failing to provide information, failing to maintain records and for obstructing a social welfare inspector.