02 May 2008
Staff errors at the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency that caused benefits overpayments of £28m in 2006/07 have been criticised as 'disappointingly high'.
The Assembly's Public Accounts Committee said it was 'unacceptable' that the agency believed it would be 'a struggle' to cut down errors.
Conceding that the system was 'inherently complex', committee chair Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said: 'We are concerned that almost half of overpayments are due to agency staff error and that checks aimed at validating payments have, on occasion, incorrectly changed benefit entitlements.
'The committee is also concerned that many people in society who are entitled to benefits are not receiving their full entitlement.'
The PAC called on the Social Security Agency to take action to improve administration and reduce errors, including staff training and better targeting of fraud investigation.
The agency made £3.5bn of payments in 2006/07. Some £60m was overpaid, including £28m caused by civil servants' mistakes. Underpayments came to £22m, £19m of which were caused by staff error.
PFmay2008
