Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2026
490. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the policy in relation to overpayments of social welfare; if it is mandatory to repay all social welfare overpayments or if it can be written off; if so, in what circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47298/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraOverpayments of social welfare payments arise when a person receives a payment to which they were not entitled. This can occur for a variety of reasons, including delays in notifying my Department of a change in circumstances or where a person provides false or misleading information in their application or through error on the part of either the claimant or the Department. Persons 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.
Overpayments may be recovered through regular periodic payments, deduction from the customers’ on-going welfare payments or by way of a single payment covering the full amount owed. Overpayments can also be recovered through attachments to earnings of a customer, or to assets in a financial institution.
An overpayment will remain on a persons record and can be pursued up to future pension entitlements and following death, where an estate remains.
An overpayment is usually only written-off, or partially written-off, in circumstances where there is no prospect of future recovery of the amount due. In general, overpayments of deceased customers are written off where there are not sufficient funds in the estate to repay the overpayment.
In all cases of write off, should new information come to my Department, or a person’s circumstances change, then the debt will be written back and recovery pursued as normal.
A structured debt management policy in line with normal good practice in recovery of overpayments operates within my Department, including yearly statements issued to customers of outstanding overpayments.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
