FOLLOWING the implementation of an internal audit, the Irish Health Service Executive has discovered that it allocated over €14.6m in payroll overpayments at the end of 2023. Prior to that, the HSE wrote off €909,500 for the years 2023 and 2022.
The results of the audit show that the main reasons given for overpayments in excess of €10,000 were as follows: employees not being taken off payroll in 19% of cases; pension overpayment for an active or deceased person in 16% of cases; late entry of unpaid leave in 15% of cases, and Master Data Error in 14% of cases.
There were almost 7,000 cases of overpayment over the course of six years leading up to the end of 2023. Since making the error, the HSE has recouped €13.2m of the total. The main areas found to be implicated were medical & dental, nursing, and management & administration.
The audit dates to November 2024 and was released to media under Freedom of Information. It found that overpayments were written off if six years had passed since the error was made, in cases where there was no acknowledgement from the recipient, or if four years had passed after the recipient had died.
Overpayments have increased in recent years, with the HSE acknowledging that payroll favours getting in contact with recipients to give them the opportunity to return the funds in a timely manner.
The audit was one of the largest of its kind in recent years, covering both full-time and part-time staff. The HSE is currently the biggest employer in the Republic of Ireland and a statement from the organisation said that payments made in error represented 0.2% of their annual payroll costs.
2023 also saw the introduction of a new payroll overpayment portal at each HSE site, though it was not fully operational until August of that year. The HSE stressed that because it is a State employer, it takes the issue of overpayments seriously.
See More: HSE, Overpayment, Payroll
