Crackdown on benefit fraud expected to save €3 million this year

Almost €3 million will be saved this year in a clamp down on social benefit fraud, money that will be directed into the strengthening of the social welfare system.

Social solidarity minister Michael Farrugia told a press conference that the Benefit Fraud and Investigation Department conducted 1,214 inspections between January and August this year.

These investigations yielded 592 cases of benefit abuse, which will save an estimated €2.6 million in public funds.

Moreover, 236 people had applied for an amnesty that the government had offered to social security benefit abusers willing to regularise their positions –an initiative that will yield an estimated €623,700 by the end of the year.

Farrugia said that all of the funds saved through clamping down on benefit theft will be redirected into strengthening benefits and pensions for certain niches of people. These include pensioners born before 1962, who are not granted a national minimum pension that protects them from falling into poverty.

Farrugia presented a rosy picture of the preliminary results of benefit schemes announced in the 2015 Budget. 733 single parents and 508 couples are receiving in-work benefits, a scheme introduced over and above children’s allowances to incentivise parents to enter the workforce.

As of 16 September, a total of €410,619 has been spent on in-work benefits.

More people are also making use of the tapering scheme – a shock absorbing gradual phasing out of unemployment benefits for people who find a job.

1,503 people are benefitting from the tapering scheme as of September, up from 497 people in December 2014.

These increases appear to have been countered by a decrease in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits.

462 people received contributory unemployment benefits in August, compared to 813 people in January when the in-work benefits scheme was launched. This has led to the expenditure on such benefits decreasing from €317,136 to €116,525 in eight months.

Moreover, only 2,662 people received means-test unemployment benefits in September, significantly down from the 3,791 people in December 2014. Similarly, the number of people on social assistance stood at 8,638 recipients as of September, down from the 9,639 registered in December 2014.

Notably, the previous Budget also allowed disabled people to keep their disability pension upon finding employment. Farrugia was unable to provide figures as to how many disabled people are enjoying such a benefit, arguing that his ministry doesn’t take disabled people’s employment situation into account before granting them a pension.

“However, as soon as we announced this scheme, 200 disabled people instantly applied for a disability pension, which is quite telling,” the minister said.