November 11 2009

Dáil Debates

• Half-rate carer’s allowance

Parliamentary Questions

• Fraud in Social Welfare
• Waiting lists for personal assistants services
• Savings made from fraud detection in Social and Family Affairs
• Recipients of a payment in each social welfare payment category
• Cuts to social welfare

DÁIL DEBATES

• Half-rate carer’s allowance

Deputy Róisín Shortall (L): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will give a commitment not to reduce the half-rate carers payment in Budget 2010.

Deputy Mary Hanafin: Budget 2007 provided for new arrangements whereby people in receipt of a social welfare payment other than carers allowance or benefit who are also providing someone with full-time care and attention can retain their main welfare payments and receive a half-rate carers allowance. Similarly, people currently in receipt of a carers allowance who may have an underlying eligibility for another social welfare payment can transfer to that other payment and continue to receive up to a half-rate carers allowance. The report of the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes made a range of recommendations relating to the Department of Social and Family Affairs, including on the half-rate carers allowance. The Department will consider the report’s recommendations as part of the Estimates and budgetary process for 2010. Decisions on all the issues arising will be a matter for the Government. No decisions have been made on the implementation of any of the McCarthy proposals relevant to this Department. Full consideration will of course be given to the impact of the proposals on the recipients involved. The Government is acutely aware and appreciative of the contribution made by carers to people needing ongoing care and support. In recognition of this, considerable improvements have been made in recent years in services and supports for carers. The payment rates for the carers allowance were increased further in the 2009 Budget by €7 to €239 per week for those aged 66 or over and by €6.50 to €220.50 per week for those aged under 66. Recipients of carers allowance are also eligible for household benefits, free travel and the respite care grant. The means test for carers allowance has been significantly eased over the years and is now one of the most generous means tests in the social welfare system, most notably with regard to spousal earnings. Since April 2008, the income disregard has been €332.50 per week for a single person and €665 per week for a couple. This means that a couple with two children can earn in the region of €37,200 and qualify for the maximum rate of carers allowance as well as the associated free travel and household benefits package. A couple with an income in the region of €60,400 can still qualify for a minimum payment, as well as free travel and household benefits. These levels surpass the Towards 2016 commitment to ensuring those on average industrial earnings continue to qualify for a full carer’s allowance. From June 2005 the annual respite care grant was extended to all carers who are providing full-time care to a person who needs such care regardless of their income. The rate of the respite care grant was also increased to €1,700 per year in respect of each care recipient from June 2008. It is estimated that the combined expenditure on carers allowance, carers benefit, the respite care grant and half-rate carers allowance will be €650 million in 2009. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further on budgetary proposals at this stage pending the outcome of these deliberative processes.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: I asked the Minister for a commitment not to reduce the half-rate carers allowance. The Taoiseach and several of her colleagues have already given a commitment to the wealthy that they will not be taxed further. If that kind of commitment can be given to people who are very well off, I do not know why she cannot give a commitment on the additional payment of just over €100 to those who provide care around the clock to family members. I was disappointed that she did not take up the invitation by the Carers Association to visit a carer. I accompanied several colleagues from this House on a visit to a woman who is minding her 17 year old disabled son around the clock. She receives the lone parent payment and the half-rate carers allowance. How can this woman and the thousands of other people in similar circumstances possibly sustain a 33% reduction in their income and continue what they are doing? Does the Minister not accept it would be a false economy to cut the allowance?

Deputy Mary Hanafin: I fully appreciate the valuable role played by carers. All of us visited people who are being cared for as well as their carers, including both those who receive no support from the State and those in receipt of the carers allowance. I have met groups representing carers, including in particular the Carers Association, on several occasions at local, county and national levels. We are conscious of the issue, therefore. As the Taoiseach noted this morning, the social welfare budget of €21 billion constitutes more than one third of total expenditure. We cannot ignore this expenditure in the context of the forthcoming budget. Equally, however, it is not possible at this stage to go through the various elements of the budget and decide what we will cut because that would not be fair to the groups who are not being discussed today. No final decision has been made in respect of any element of the social welfare budget because cutting social welfare payments is the last thing anybody wants to do. However, we have to somehow reduce the budget. It is not the first area we will rush into when dealing with the budget but I cannot give the commitment the Deputy desires.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: We know that approximately €8 billion in tax reliefs are available to the better off. Why can commitments be given to those people? It is easy for the Minister to say she values carers but if that is the case she will not hit them financially. I am asking her to give a commitment not to reduce the half-rate carers allowance, which has a ceiling of just over €100 per week. Does she accept this money is needed in households, not in recognition of the huge time commitments given by carers but to cover additional demands in respect of heating, lighting, dietary requirements and, in many cases, cleaning? The allowance is used to subsidise the additional costs involved in caring. Given the significant concerns held by thousands of carers throughout the country that their incomes will be cut, I ask her to put their minds at rest by giving a commitment that she will not hit them.

Deputy Mary Hanafin: The Deputy referred to the extra demands that arise in regard to care recipients. I appreciate that somebody with a severe disability has additional heating and dietary requirements but it does not necessarily follow that carers need additional money.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: That is where the money is going.

Deputy Mary Hanafin: In many cases carers do not live with the care recipients.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: In many cases they do.

Deputy Mary Hanafin: The data on the half-rate carers allowance reveal the commitment of older people. Of the 19,000 people in receipt of the allowance, 7,500 are in receipt of the State or invalidity pension, 2,000 are in receipt of disability benefits and 3,500 receive lone parent benefits.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: What point is the Minister making?

Deputy Mary Hanafin: It is interesting to look at the profile of carers.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: They are enabling other people to stay out of nursing homes.

Deputy Mary Hanafin: I have outlined the significant improvements that have been made not only to rates of pay but also in terms of free travel and household benefits for carers. They also have generous income disregards. Every single group would like my commitment to leave them alone in the budget but the next group will then ask for the same treatment. I am aware people are anxious and want reassurance but it is genuinely not possible at present to promise our full protection to any group affected by the social welfare system.

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Fraud in Social Welfare

Deputy Joe McHugh (FG): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report that stricter controls and more accountability are needed to eliminate high levels of fraud and errors in the welfare system;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department. A key objective of the Department’s control strategy is to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time. The Department processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and it makes payments to over one million people every week. The vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them. Where overpayments occur the Department seeks to recover the overpayments and in cases of serious fraud, the Department will use all legal avenues open to it to recover the money defrauded and seek redress. A four-pronged control strategy has been adopted by the Department, namely prevention of fraud and error at the initial claim stage, early detection through effective review of claims in payment, measures to deter fraud and the pursuit and recovery of overpayments. Key elements of the Department’s control strategy include systematic risk analysis, surveys of the levels of fraud and error within schemes, scheme specific review policies, data matching initiatives with both external and internal parties and investigation of anonymous reports. These control tools ensure that review activity is targeted in the most effective manner and ensure that where overpayments arise they are detected as early as possible. Over 620 staff at local, regional and national level are engaged on a full or part-time basis on work related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. About half of these work full time on control work, while the other half are responsible for routine investigations under the various schemes and for following up suspected cases of fraud where these are discovered. The rapidly changing economic environment with large increases in the levels of unemployed poses challenges for the prevention and effective management of fraud and control. The Department’s response to these challenges has been to introduce new measures to target control activity at high risk categories of claimants.

For example:

• Control activity is being focused on the prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage.
• The Special Investigation Unit is undertaking more regular interviews of jobseeker recipients, particularly those with high risk ratings.
• As a preventative measure the option to receive payments by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) was removed for new claimants for jobseeker payments. They must attend in person at the post office each week thus confirming their continued residency in the country. Their claim is automatically suspended where two consecutive payments are not collected.
• Border regions have put an increased emphasis on controls on claims from applicants with a previous address in Northern Ireland.
• One Parent Family Payment recipients with earnings are targeted for on-going review.
• The frequency of issue of mail shots to validate continued entitlement to Child Benefit has been increased to 3 monthly intervals for EU worker customers and resident non-Irish national customers.
• The number of anonymous reports from members of the public has increased dramatically in the past year, with over 4,600 reports made at end September 2009 compared to approximately 1000 reports made in 2008. Each report is followed-up.
• The Department is moving to a risk-based system which will achieve better value for money by focusing scarce resources on the most appropriate cases. For example for Disability Allowance, a new control review policy for the scheme was introduced in January 2009 which involves assigning and recording a risk rating at the award and review stage of all claims in the medical and means categories. A similar risk based control review policy is being piloted for Carer’s Allowance with the same approach planned for Invalidity Pension.
• New data matches have been initiated to effectively target reviews and generate savings.

In 2009 data was received from The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, The Commission for Taxi Regulation, The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and Local Authorities. In addition agreement has recently been reached with The Revenue Commissioners for data on capital assets. In relation to savings, at the end of September 2009, the Department recorded control savings of nearly €355m, which is 78% of the year to date target of €453m. The annual control target for 2009 is €616.5m. It is difficult to project what the control savings for 2009 will be at this point but it is unlikely that the Department will reach the control savings target of €616.5m. It must be noted that control activity is currently being focused on prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage. Savings made from the detection of bogus claims at application stage cannot be estimated as the claim will not go into payment. However, this is the most cost effective mechanism of reducing losses through fraud and error in social welfare schemes. The significant increase in the live register has impacted on the Department’s capacity to review claims. The increase has put pressure on staffing resources and particularly on social welfare inspectors who are responsible both for carrying out means-tests on initial applicants and conducting anti-fraud inspections. Additional staff have been assigned to front line work, including an increased number of inspectors.

This Department works closely with Department of Social Development in Northern Ireland and The Department of Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. Cases are checked to ensure that claims are not in payment in the Republic of Ireland while also claiming in another jurisdiction. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report made observations regarding stricter controls and more accountability. Since the introduction of the 2003 Strategy, Control Division has taken a strategic approach to the development of control policy. It has pro-actively supported managers to manage their responsibilities with regard to the control of schemes. Resources available for control activity have focused more effectively on those schemes and parts of schemes that pose the highest risk of fraud and abuse. As part of the implementation of the Strategy, a number of new policy initiatives were implemented specifically the fraud and error survey programme and fraud risk assessment of schemes. These initiatives have facilitated a more focussed and targeted approach to control activity. A key strength in the successful implementation of these policies has been the integrated nature of the control function within the Department. This is in contrast with other jurisdictions where there is a disconnect between scheme administration and scheme control and managers responsible only for scheme administration feel that they have no function in relation to scheme control. The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them. In this regard the control programme of my Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are continuously refined to ensure that they remain effective.

• Waiting lists for personal assistants services

Deputy Róisín Shortall (L): asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding delays and waiting lists for personal assistants services for disabled persons; if her attention has been drawn to the hardship caused by the delay to those awaiting this service; and her proposals in this regard.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): As the Deputy’s question relates to service matters I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.

• Savings made from fraud detection in Social and Family Affairs

Deputy Denis Naughten (FG): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the savings made to date in 2009 by her Department as a result of fraud detection; if she will achieve her Departmental target by year end in 2009;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): At the end of September 2009, the Department recorded control savings of nearly €355m, which is 78% of the year to date target of €453m. The annual control target for 2009 is €616.5m. It is difficult to project what the control savings for 2009 will be at this point but it is unlikely that the Department will reach the control savings target of €616.5m. It must be noted that control activity is currently being focused on prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage. Savings made from the detection of bogus claims at application stage cannot be estimated as the claim will not go into payment. However, this is the most cost effective mechanism of reducing losses through fraud and error in social welfare schemes. The significant increase in the live register has impacted on the Department’s capacity to review claims. The increase has put pressure on staffing resources and particularly on social welfare inspectors who are responsible both for carrying out means-tests on initial applicants and conducting anti-fraud inspections. The Department’s response to these challenges has been to introduce new measures to target control activity at high risk categories of claimants. For example: Control activity is being focused on the prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage. The Special Investigation Unit is undertaking more regular interviews of jobseeker recipients, particularly those with high risk ratings. As a preventative measure the option to receive payments by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) was removed for new claimants for jobseeker payments. They must attend in person at the post office each week thus confirming their continued residency in the country. Their claim is automatically suspended where two consecutive payments are not collected. Border regions have put an increased emphasis on controls on claims from applicants with a previous address in Northern Ireland. One Parent Family Payment recipients with earnings are targeted for on-going review. The frequency of issue of mail shots to validate continued entitlement to Child Benefit has been increased to 3 monthly intervals for EU worker customers and resident non-Irish national customers. The number of anonymous reports from members of the public has increased dramatically in the past year, with over 4,600 reports made at end September 2009 compared to approximately 1000 reports made in 2008. Each report is followed-up. The Department is moving to a risk-based system which will achieve better value for money by focusing scarce resources on the most appropriate cases. For example for Disability Allowance, a new control review policy for the scheme was introduced in January 2009 which involves assigning and recording a risk rating at the award and review stage of all claims in the medical and means categories. A similar risk based control review policy is being piloted for Carer’s Allowance with the same approach planned for Invalidity Pension. New data matches have been initiated to effectively target reviews and generate savings. In 2009 data was received from The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, The Commission for Taxi Regulation, The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and Local Authorities. In addition agreement has recently been reached with The Revenue Commissioners for data on capital assets. The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them. In this regard the control programme of the Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are continuously refined to ensure that they remain effective.

• Recipients of a payment in each social welfare payment category

Deputy Michael Ring (FG): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of recipients of a payment in each social welfare payment category; the cost in each category for the year 2008; the average payment made to recipients; the estimated costs for 2009 if same were to proceed;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): Table 1 sets out the number of recipients and overall cost for each scheme for which a Christmas Bonus was paid in 2008. The bonus was paid as 100% of the weekly personal payment. It is estimated that a 100% bonus in 2009 would cost around €223 million and benefit over 985,000 recipients.

• Cuts to social welfare

Deputy Seán Sherlock (L): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the expected effect the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes Report proposals on social welfare basic rates and the half rate carer’s allowance would have on the overall income of carers; her views on same;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): In its consideration of the forthcoming Budget and Estimates, the Government will take account of a wide range of factors including the prevailing economic situation, the need to reduce public expenditure, the recommendations of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes and the impact of such proposals on individuals and vulnerable groups in society. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage pending the outcome of these deliberative processes. However, the Government is very conscious of the need to take account of the cumulative impact of measures on individuals and groups when finalising the Budget package. In this regard, I have requested the newly-formed Social Inclusion Division of my Department to prepare an analysis of the impact of the social welfare and other measures proposed in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure on families. The analysis is nearing completion and will contribute to the Government’s deliberations in the Budgetary process.

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