HOW MONEY IS RECOUPED FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

SOCIAL welfare inspectors regularly audit welfare claimants to check if their means have changed and if their details are correct, and the inspectors can even visit someone’s home if they need to.

When a person who has received a means-tested social welfare payment – at any point in their lives – dies, then the person in charge of their estate needs to tell the Department of Social welfare.

Legislation states the personal representative of the deceased person is obliged to give the department notice when they intend to distribute the dead person’s estate.

They must provide the asset schedule to the department, and the representative is asked not to distribute the estate until they get formal clearance from the department.

If the asset schedule from the deceased customer reveals assets that would have reduced the person’s social welfare entitlement, the department will recover the overpayment from the estate.

In the past nine years, €183.7million has been recouped by the State in this way. However, in some cases it’s not possible to reclaim the money, and since 2019, approximately €11million has been written off for overpayments to customers who have died.

Up to the end of October last year, the Department reviewed 535,000 social welfare claims, recouping more than €463million.

Where an overpayment is found and the person is still alive, the department will deduct 15% from welfare payments or request a direct repayment, if they no longer receive social welfare. If the person does not agree to a repayment plan and is employed, the department can seek to have the money taken from their wages.

In November, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said there were 3,627 people repaying overpayments in excess of €100,000. There were also 984 customers repaying overpayments of between €50,000 and €99,999 and another 3,627 customers repaying overpayments of between €20,000 and €49,999.