Welfare cheats rake in millions thanks to oversight
WELFARE rorters have pocketed millions of dollars in taxpayer funds after the Human Services Department overpaid $2.84 billion through fraud or error last year.
NSW
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WELFARE rorters have pocketed millions of dollars in taxpayer funds after the Human Services Department overpaid $2.84 billion through fraud or error last year.
Yet the federal government probed just one-in-10 reports of cheating — and only 709 people were prosecuted.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) overpaid $2.84 billion through fraud or error in 2016-17, and families with kids racked up nearly half the debt, with overpayments of $1.2 billion in family tax benefits .
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the unemployed were overpaid $424 million in Newstart benefits, with $346 million more overpaid in add-on welfare payments such as rent assistance.
DHS overpaid 2.4 million people an average of $1174 each during the year, but recovered less than half, leaving taxpayers $1.6 billion in the red.
Debt collectors were used to get back $126 million but most was recovered through deductions from ongoing payments.
READ MORE: Welfare frauds stealing $5 billion of taxpayers’ money
Whistleblowers dobbed in 114,065 people for suspected welfare fraud — but the department investigated just 13,595 cases and only 709 were prosecuted. Overpayments can come from fraud but also by accident when families claim weekly payments based on a low income, but earn more than expected during the year.
A DHS spokeswoman said the amount of money spent on fraudulent payments was “not readily available’’.
Human Services Minister Michael Keenan said the Turnbull government was “committed to cracking down on welfare fraud more than ever before’’.
Mr Keenan said tip-offs about welfare fraud had identified $40 million in overpayments last financial year.
“Some tip-offs may refer to an investigation that is already underway (and) it sometimes receives multiple tip-offs about the same subject.’’
The DHS spokeswoman said debts arose from “changes in personal circumstances and people either inadvertently or deliberately providing incorrect information’’. “The recovery of a debt may not occur immediately in full or within the same financial year,’’ she said.
“The department supports a flexible, fair and realistic approach to debt collection and considers an individual’s financial and personal circumstances when negotiating payment arrangements.’’
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) acting national secretary Michael Tull blamed a flawed information technology (IT) system for Centrelink errors.