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A NEW HARD-HITTING campaign is being launched to encourage members of the public to blow the whistle on welfare fraud.
Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar is launching the campaign today.
The adverts are designed to confront people with the reality of welfare fraud and aim to persuade people to report any knowledge they have about specific cases to the Department of Social Protection.
It’s estimated that last year suspected fraud overpayments of Jobseeker’s Allowance cost €14 million.
Minister Varadkar said today:
The vast majority of people receiving payments from the Department of Social Protection are fully entitled to those payments and are compliant with the conditions. However, we take fraud very seriously and have a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure that people receive what they are entitled to. Nothing upsets people more than someone else cheating the system at their expense. That’s why we are launching a new campaign to encourage members of the public to report suspected or known cases of welfare fraud.
He said that last year some 20,800 allegations of alleged social welfare fraud were dealt with by the Department.
“These are investigated and where warranted, payments are reduced or stopped and, in some cases, claimants are prosecuted,” he said. “Overall, a range of anti-fraud and control measures in the Department of Social Protection saved taxpayers over €500 million last year.”
The majority of public reports in 2016 concerned Jobseekers Schemes, Supplementary Welfare Allowance and One Parent Family Payments.
The most common reports allege issues such as working while claiming, cohabiting with a partner who is making a financial contribution, or claiming while living abroad.
The Department estimates that approximately one in three reports results in a payment being reduced or stopped.
Last year, the Department’s Prosecution Service considered some 300 cases of which 194 were referred to the Chief State Solicitor’s Office for proceedings to issue. A further 160 cases were referred for prosecution to the DPP by the Department’s Special Investigations Unit.
Minister Varadkar said that the Department of Social Protection has the single biggest budget of any Government Department, spending €19 billion every year.
“Last year, 1.4 million people received a weekly social welfare payment. Even with a budget of this size, there are still many positive changes I would like to make but have been unable to do so due to budgetary constraints,” he said. “That’s why savings are so important. And that’s why the public has a vital role in ensuring that we only target resources at those who most need them.”
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The Department of Social Protection has rolled out new initiatives to tackle welfare fraud such as the introduction of a modern debt management system.
A special investigation unit, consisting of trained inspectors and Garda officers, also operate in the department, tasked to identify more serious breaches.
Varadkar said his department has also deployed identity and analytics software and other intelligence systems to reinforce its fraud prevention work.
The new advertising campaign asks questions such as: ‘Would you report a welfare cheat?’
The adverts are designed to make people sit up and think about the issue, and take action if they do have information, said a department spokesperson.
The minister said members of the public play an important role in supporting anti-fraud activities, with concerned citizens making 19,000 reports in 2016.
Every year thousands of allegations of welfare fraud are made to the department. Some of these transpire to be genuine cases and result in payments being suspended.
The payments are recovered if the case is genuine and some cases also merit prosecution.
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Confidential reports can be made using:
Overall, the department conducts around one million claim reviews annually.
Varadkar said the continued roll-out of the Public Services Card, which gives people access a range of public services, has considerably reduced the potential for identity fraud.
The minister said he wants to strengthen the legislative provisions to deter abuse of the social welfare system, including publishing the names of persons who are prosecuted for social welfare fraud
He also aims to apply interest on overpayments resulting from fraud.
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Was thinking about a bike to work type incentive for peoples gardens, I know every garden is different, aspect, neighbours etc but a number of templates, set it up with a college re design etc.
So many gardens wasted but most people have no idea what to put in
@Seamus Brady:Tell that to the army of distinguished power washers who have made it their life’s ambition to obliterate every living thing with death by water jet.
@Seamus Brady: I think that the new admiration for faux grass lawns says it all, people don’t want the maintenance. Currently converting some of my lawn to a flower meadow. Will take some work and the grass has the upper hand for the moment but saw one interesting idea while researching it: people think lawns are low maintenance, they’re one of the most high maintenance needing cutting every one to two weeks during spring, summer and autumn, a healthy meadow only needs to be cut once a year so it’s much easier to maintain.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Check out yellow rattle plant if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s called the meadow maker. And best of luck!
@Bill Spill: Already have it, thank you though, more people need to know about yellow rattle/hay rattle. I got ripped off buying it from a specialist shop, a friend told me it’s readily available in farmer’s co-ops. For those that don’t know it’s a semi-parisitic plant that weakens grass so that native wildflowers have a better chance at taking hold.
@Diarmuid Hunt: its a great idea,good luck with it!
Replaced my lawn with wild flowers five years ago, looks so much better, smells great, attracts and feeds bees and other pollinators. I would like to see all urban greens (obviously not playing fields)turned to wild flower meadows. Better still we should be turning over all our unproductive land to nature and an outright ban on non native forestry.
have your say