Benefits fraud up 10% in a year

THE NUMBER of cases of benefit fraud detected by the Caisse d'Allocations Familiales has grown by 10% in the past year, new figures reveal.

The annual report from the organisation's national head office, CNAF, shows 13,000 cases were uncovered last year, up from 11,700 in 2009.

Some €800m in benefits was wrongly paid out to people who were not eligible, although the net cost to the system was just €100m as most of the money was paid back.

The Caisses d'Allocations Familiales employ more than 1,000 anti-fraud staff locally to scrutinise people's declarations and detect cases of people applying for benefits to which they are not entitled.

They also act on information from whistleblowers - last year a third of the cases uncovered were the result of members of the public alerting them to a potential fraud.

The investigations have been toughened in recent years. CNAF president Jean-Louis Deroussen says in the report that "generally, the checks are more effective".