Alan Kelly
Question:100. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of WTE staff, by grade based in Department's central debt recovery unit as of 23 April 2025, in tabular form. [21457/25]
View answerWednesday, 30 April 2025
Questions (100)
Written answers
Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise because of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Customers who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled.
The Department has a central debt unit of 41 staff that deal with recovery of overpayments from customers who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. This unit is made up of 1 Assistant Principal, 4 Higher Executive Officers, 16 Executive Officers and 20 Clerical officers.
Customers, with overpayments, who are in receipt of a social welfare payment, are dealt with by the relevant scheme area or INTREO office, depending on the scheme or locality. All staff in these scheme areas and INTREO offices may be involved in recovery of overpayments.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.