Welfare bill reduced by €83m after tip-offs and claims review

Members of the public made more than 21,000 anonymous tip-offs of suspected welfare fraud last year.

The increase – up from just under 1,000 in the years before the economic downturn – highlight the extent of the cultural shift over recent years in reporting suspected cases of fraud.

Most reports last year related to people allegedly working while claiming benefits. Others related to allegations that lone parents were cohabiting with partners, and that people who were living outside the jurisdiction were claiming benefits.

The number of tip-offs peaked in 2012 at 28,000 and was 25,000 in 2013.

However, despite the high number of suspected cases, only a minority of these reports tend to result in welfare payments being stopped or reduced. The majority of reports do not contain sufficient information or contain incorrect allegations.

Most tip-offs were made online though a special suspected fraud section on the Department of Social Protection’s website.

Figures to be published shortly will show the department recorded “control savings” of €505 million as a result of fraud or overpayments. This is €5 million less than it targeted at the beginning of last year.

Error prevention

“Control savings” refer to future expenditure that would have been incurred were it not for fraud or error prevention.

While the vast majority of people on social welfare are claiming the correct entitlement, officials are involved in a range of new measures to target the minority involved in fraud or abuse.

A group of 20 gardaí joined the department’s special investigations unit for the first time last year in an effort to target sections of the cash economy and tackle identity fraud. This unit secured savings of €68 million last year, €2 million behind its target.

In all, the department reviewed about one million social welfare claims and recovered €83 million in overpayments. This was €8 million more than anticipated.

Change in circumstances

Overpayments typically relate to cases where there were delays in welfare recipients informing the department about changes in their circumstances, such as returning to work.

Officials are now using facial recognition software to target people making multiple claims around the country using the new public services card, along with data analytics software to calculate the risks of abuse for different welfare schemes.

Investigators are also targeting airports to crack down on claimants flying in and out of the country to sign on for benefits, or leaving the country without signing off.

Over the past year or so, officials have made about 90 detections of individuals flying in from the UK and Poland, often involving Irish citizens. This led to dozens of claims being stopped and six prosecutions.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton recently said the Government is committed to maintaining core welfare rates, while taking a zero-tolerance approach towards welfare fraud.

“These are my twin aims to ensure we protect the vulnerable and pursue those who try to defraud the system,” she said.