Written answers
Thursday, 3 October 2019
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Overpayments
Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1808 to 1810, inclusive, of 6 September 2019 in respect of large debts owed to her Department from customers, if the figures can be further broken down in respect of the number of cases; the amount outstanding in respect of which payment arrangements are in place; the number and value of cases in which no pay arrangements are in place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40263/19]
Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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A breakdown of the cases which are repaying and not repaying by scheme area and by the year in which the overpayment was raised is set out in tables 1 and 2 respectively.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Table 1 - Outstanding customer debts – value outstanding over €10,000 by scheme area – as at end August 2019
| Scheme | Repaying | Repaying | Not Repaying | Not Repaying | Total | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | |
| Jobseekers Allowance | 1,565 | €42,192,936 | 1,526 | €42,306,087 | 3,091 | €84,499,023 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 1,284 | €35,991,554 | 1,513 | €35,356,666 | 2,797 | €71,348,220 |
| Disability Allowance | 568 | €16,094,691 | 500 | €16,923,983 | 1,068 | €33,018,675 |
| State Pension Non-Con | 294 | €8,737,633 | 741 | €31,538,568 | 1,035 | €40,276,201 |
| Carers Allowance | 506 | €14,198,147 | 292 | €8,243,575 | 798 | €22,441,722 |
| State Pension Contributory | 182 | €4,707,141 | 251 | €7,579,804 | 433 | €12,286,945 |
| Child Benefit | 90 | €1,549,483 | 291 | €5,089,970 | 381 | €6,639,453 |
| Illness Benefit | 189 | €4,417,484 | 110 | €2,283,605 | 299 | €6,701,090 |
| Invalidity Pension | 196 | €5,520,233 | 99 | €2,583,284 | 295 | €8,103,518 |
| Widow(er)s Pension Con | 150 | €5,290,154 | 89 | €3,070,193 | 239 | €8,360,348 |
| Basic Supplement Welfare | 85 | €1,802,083 | 128 | €2,765,346 | 213 | €4,567,429 |
| Rent Supplement | 76 | €1,638,163 | 94 | €2,242,607 | 170 | €3,880,770 |
| Deserted Wife's Benefit | 87 | €4,017,317 | 55 | €2,274,517 | 142 | €6,291,834 |
| Farm Assist | 71 | €2,376,896 | 56 | €1,662,919 | 127 | €4,039,815 |
| Family Income Supplement | 65 | €1,320,085 | 55 | €1,154,737 | 120 | €2,474,823 |
| Widows Non Contributory Pension | 38 | €1,066,345 | 37 | €929,899 | 75 | €1,996,245 |
| Jobseekers Benefit | 18 | €293,696 | 55 | €825,807 | 73 | €1,119,503 |
| Pre-retirement Allowance | 25 | €585,655 | 26 | €504,960.45 | 51 | €1,090,616.02 |
| Back To Work Scheme | 15 | €227,321 | 32 | €566,694 | 47 | €794,015 |
| Deserted Wife's Allowance | 17 | €883,554 | 20 | €606,529 | 37 | €1,490,083 |
| Blind Persons Pension | 23 | €978,850 | 11 | €369,565 | 34 | €1,348,415 |
| State Pension Transition | 15 | €330,256 | 15 | €329,795 | 30 | €660,051 |
| Back To Work Enterprise Allowance | 12 | €235,269 | 17 | €383,058 | 29 | €618,328 |
| Mortgage Interest Supplement | 12 | €193,296 | 11 | €226,182 | 23 | €419,478 |
| Disablement Benefit | 15 | €474,669 | 5 | €106,173 | 20 | €580,842 |
| Rent Allowance | 7 | €117,742 | 8 | €385,988 | 15 | €503,730 |
| Guardians Payment (Contributory) | 10 | €451,278 | 5 | €88,815 | 15 | €540,093 |
| Guardians Payment (Non-Contributory) | 7 | €109,866 | 6 | €227,022 | 13 | €336,888 |
| Domiciliary Care | 4 | €68,866 | 6 | €96,246 | 10 | €165,112 |
| Carer's Benefit | 2 | €39,108 | 6 | €108,352 | 8 | €147,460 |
| Third Level Option | 2 | €32,553 | 3 | €76,172 | 5 | €108,725 |
| Second Level Option | 1 | €23,169 | 4 | €59,293 | 5 | €82,463 |
| Rural Social Scheme | 2 | €47,805 | 1 | €15,681 | 3 | €63,486 |
| Part-time Job Incentive | 1 | €33,339 | 2 | €24,578 | 3 | €57,918 |
| Diet Supplement | 2 | €21,148 | 2 | €21,148 | ||
| Jobs Initiative Scheme | 1 | €14,738 | 1 | €14,738 | ||
| Death Benefit | 1 | €112,107 | 1 | €112,107 | ||
| National Internship | 1 | €12,783 | 1 | €12,783 | ||
| Respite Care | 1 | €10,925 | 1 | €10,925 | ||
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 1 | €10,658 | 1 | €10,658 | ||
| Magdalen Commission Scheme | 1 | €14,619 | 1 | €14,619 | ||
| Adoptive Parent Benefit | 1 | €28,299 | 1 | €28,299 | ||
| Total | 5,638 | €156,193,128 | 6,075 | €171,085,486 | 11,713 | €327,278,615 |
Table 2 - Outstanding customer debts – value outstanding over €10,000 by year debt was raised – as at end August 2019
| Year Raised | Repaying | Repaying | Not Repaying | Not Repaying | Total | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | No. of cases | Value Outstanding at end August 2019 | |
| 1984 | 1 | €19,930 | 2 | €28,778 | 3 | €48,708 |
| 1985 | 1 | €11,958 | 1 | €16,452 | 2 | €28,411 |
| 1986 | 3 | €43,983 | 10 | €167,429 | 13 | €211,412 |
| 1987 | 3 | €39,656 | 9 | €190,041 | 12 | €229,698 |
| 1988 | 9 | €139,821 | 17 | €309,375 | 26 | €449,196 |
| 1989 | 6 | €102,011 | 32 | €584,130 | 38 | €686,141 |
| 1990 | 14 | €247,224 | 27 | €538,016 | 41 | €785,240 |
| 1991 | 12 | €231,211 | 24 | €448,574 | 36 | €679,785 |
| 1992 | 17 | €283,200 | 39 | €656,837 | 56 | €940,038 |
| 1993 | 13 | €234,408 | 25 | €440,106 | 38 | €674,514 |
| 1994 | 22 | €489,292 | 51 | €900,705 | 73 | €1,389,998 |
| 1995 | 30 | €667,885 | 50 | €884,668 | 80 | €1,552,554 |
| 1996 | 39 | €750,243 | 55 | €974,452 | 94 | €1,724,696 |
| 1997 | 43 | €868,41 | 73 | €1,372,747 | 116 | €2,241,163 |
| 1998 | 41 | €858,632 | 67 | €1,320,770 | 108 | €2,179,403 |
| 1999 | 61 | €1,394,002 | 67 | €1,194,358 | 128 | €2,588,361 |
| 2000 | 48 | €1,018,872 | 73 | €1,419,056 | 121 | €2,437,929 |
| 2001 | 38 | €858,838 | 81 | €1,567,510 | 119 | €2,426,349 |
| 2002 | 45 | €1,034,778 | 55 | €1,088,863 | 100 | €2,123,641 |
| 2003 | 116 | €2,159,039 | 173 | €2,972,678 | 289 | €5,131,717 |
| 2004 | 224 | €4,123,378 | 400 | €6,954,932 | 624 | €11,078,310 |
| 2005 | 180 | €3,991,446 | 226 | €5,070,343 | 406 | €9,061,789 |
| 2006 | 147 | €3,205,559 | 166 | €3,516,088 | 313 | €6,721,648 |
| 2007 | 134 | €3,131,212 | 114 | €2,683,754 | 248 | €5,814,967 |
| 2008 | 163 | €3,914,658 | 123 | €2,950,242 | 286 | €6,864,900 |
| 2009 | 225 | €6,131,559 | 187 | €5,384,136 | 412 | €11,515,696 |
| 2010 | 260 | €7,358,599 | 255 | €6,402,283 | 515 | €13,760,882 |
| 2011 | 319 | €9,440,454 | 296 | €7,072,343 | 615 | €16,512,798 |
| 2012 | 317 | €10,633,923 | 329 | €9,286,969 | 646 | €19,920,892 |
| 2013 | 469 | €14,826,226 | 438 | €13,005,313 | 907 | €27,831,540 |
| 2014 | 416 | €11,504,689 | 405 | €11,998,352 | 821 | €23,503,041 |
| 2015 | 433 | €13,582,919 | 409 | €13,251,087 | 842 | €26,834,007 |
| 2016 | 402 | €12,328,812 | 365 | €12,571,999 | 767 | €24,900,812 |
| 2017 | 530 | €15,010,237 | 447 | €16,482,783 | 977 | €31,493,020 |
| 2018 | 488 | €14,891,558 | 525 | €19,997,097 | 1,013 | €34,888,656 |
| 2019 | 369 | €10,664,481 | 459 | €17,382,203 | 828 | €28,046,684 |
| Total | 5,638 | €156,193,128 | 6,075 | €171,085,486 | 11,713 | €327,278,615 |
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