Child benefit linking up with school records to reduce fraud
Every year, around €2 billion is paid out in child benefit to 1.2 million children
Child benefit payments are to be cross-checked against school attendance records to reduce social welfare fraud.
Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar’s department plans a link with the Department of Education’s school pupil databases, which record the names and addresses of all children attending primary and secondary schools. They are updated by school principals to show when a child has left a school, or when a child has missed school for more than 20 ...