The Department of Social Protection carried out a control survey on the jobseekers' benefit scheme and found 9.7% of claimants were receiving more than they were entitled to, according to the C&AG Report.
The survey examined 600 randomly selected claims in payments in February 2022.
It classified the cause of the excess payments as suspected fraud for 5.5% of sampled expenditure, with 3.6% due to materially incorrect information being provided and 1.9% due to wilful concealment of information.
Inaccurate information accounts for 1.9% of excess payments and 0.6% was due to an unreported change in circumstances. Official error was found to be responsible for excess payment of 0.2% of expenditure.
The control survey also found that 0.8% of the jobseeker’s benefit claimants surveyed were being underpaid, with the underpayments equivalent to 0.3% of scheme expenditure across all claims examined.
Another control survey, this time on the disability allowance, found that 16.4% of claimants were receiving more than they were entitled to.
The survey examined 600 randomly selected claims in payments in April 2022.
The control survey found 3.5% of claimants surveyed were being underpaid, with the underpayments equivalent to 0.7% of scheme expenditure across all claims examined.
It found claimants who had a means test in the prior three years were less likely to have an excess payment than those who had not (3.4% versus 7.9%).
The survey also found that increases in employment income of the claimant or their spouse/partner was a leading cause of an excess payment being detected and the rate of payment being reduced.
It found claimants aged 45 or older were more likely to have an incorrect payment.
The C & AG said with scheme expenditure of almost €24 billion in 2022, even low levels of payments in excess of entitlements to welfare can amount to significant losses of public funds.
The report said the level of irregular payments found by the department through its ongoing programme of control surveys continues to be material.
