LETTERS ARE TO be issued shortly to those who received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) while working, the Department of Social Protection has confirmed. 

The Dáil’s public spending watchdog was told today that the department has estimated that there are between 50,000 and 60,000 cases in which people received the PUP while working.

These cases relate to claimants receiving PUP during a period that overlaps with a period of employment.

Secretary General at the Department of Social Protection John McKeon said today that letters would be issuing shortly, and on a rolling basis, to people who owe money back. 

The department has already recouped €16 million, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee heard today.

He said the department “invested a lot of time in analysing and cross-checking all the recipients of the [PUP] week-by-week against employment records”.

McKeon added that most of the overpayments are “probably a couple of hundred euro rather than thousands”.

The letters will offer people the opportunity to either repay or to agree a repayment plan with the department, he explained. 

Payments can be made online or people can also agree an instalment plan with department, said the secretary general.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has told the department that it needs to communicate with people better, to let them know their status in terms of debts that are owed.

“That is something we are continuously looking at, and we are going to try to automate that process to remind people once a year,” said McKeon, who added that the department reminds people that it will be noted on the system if they return to the Department of Social Protection in the future.

Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe asked: “So is it the case that if somebody with that PUP overpayment does not repay it over their working life, when they come to engage with the Department with regard to their social welfare, it would be recouped at that point?”

McKeon responded: “That would be the intention.”

He told the committee that the money owed per person is oftentimes “a very low amount”.

“We are talking about a couple of hundred euro in most cases. This is not in the thousands,” he said.