REPORTING ON suspected social welfare fraud has risen dramatically with new figures showing anonymous tip-offs to the Department of Social Protection increased from about 600 in 2005 to more than 16,000 this year.
Email is the preferred method of alerting the authorities to alleged offences, with more than 10,000 electronic messages sent in 2011 by members of the public who suspected social welfare fraud by their neighbours or acquaintances.
Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton suggested the “sharp increase” could be interpreted as identifying a “cultural shift” in Irish attitudes towards ongoing breaches of the law. Tolerance for bending the rules applying to social welfare payments appears to have dropped as the effects of the recession continue to be felt.
“There has been a sharp increase in the numbers contacting the department anonymously. You could say there has been a cultural shift in people’s attitudes to making such reports,” Ms Burton said.
“But I think it is principally a feeling that, at a time when resources are limited, many feel strongly that those limited resources should be used for the benefit of people who need them most,” she added.
Year-on-year comparative figures show that just 621 anonymous reports were received in 2005, and that this number dropped to 579 the following year. The next year, 2007, saw the amount of tip-offs rise slightly to 604, however.
There was a substantial increase in 2008, when a total of 1,044 anonymous reports were received, but that figure was increased six-fold in 2009, when a total of 6,429 tip-offs were recorded.
Last year saw the previous year’s figure almost double to 12,648, and 2011 has seen the highest number of anonymous reports ever recorded: a total of 16,142 to the end of November.
Complete figures for this month are not yet available.
More than 7,000 of this year’s 16,142 reports were made about people who, the informants claimed, were claiming benefits while continuing to work. A total of 4,312 related to alleged breaches of the cohabitation rules for single parents, while more than 830 complaints concerned people suspected of claiming benefits while living outside the Republic.
The full number of complaints made cannot be fully reflected in the figures collated by the department’s control division, which is based in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, since other tip-offs are made directly to social welfare staff in public offices.
While emails accounted for 10,226 of the 16,142 complaints made this year, almost 5,000 phone calls were made and 985 letters received by the welfare fraud office.
All anonymous or confidential reports made to the department are examined. Not all are correct, but in cases that are considered relevant, the information is referred to departmental inspectors for follow-up action.
While a social welfare payment can never be suspended or stopped solely on the basis of an anonymous report, the anonymous report may be a “trigger” for the instigation of a review of an entitlement.
A social welfare inspector may then deem it appropriate to carry out a full review of the circumstances and means of the person concerned in order to determine ongoing entitlement to the relevant payment. The inspector will then submit a report to the department’s deciding officer for decision regarding ongoing entitlement to the disputed social welfare payment.
In 12,304 of the cases raised this year, a report of suspected fraud was sent to the relevant area for examination as some clients were in receipt of more than one payment. In 3,838 of the cases received in 2011 it was not possible to issue a report due to lack of information, no claim being in payment or the information reported would not impact on entitlement.
