PAC to focus on management of salary overpayments and accounts of National Shared Services Office

The schedule for tomorrow’s meeting is:

(i)Business of the Committee
(ii) C&AG Report 2016
Chapter 10: Shared Services – Management of Salary Overpayments
Appropriation Accounts 2016
Vote 18: National Shared Services Office
[Officials from the National shared Service Office and The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)

Committee Chairman Seán Fleming said: “The National Shared Services Office is a Shared Services provider for HR, pensions and payroll administration for the Government Departments and public service bodies it serves. It has reported to the government departments and offices it serves that salary overpayments totalling €4.6 million were outstanding at the end of 2016.  

The C&AG’s examination of the issue found that the systems in place in the National Shared Services Office do not provide the necessary management information to allow for effective management of overpayments. At end-2016, there were 388 cases, at a value of €1.1 million - outstanding for more than a year with no recoupment plan in place. In addition, the reported year-end figure does not include all overpayments.  

The Committee will be interested in getting further details on the extent and value of overpayments, learning what actions have been taken to address the weaknesses in  systems in place and to pursue recovery of amounts owed. We will want to know if Share Services has reviewed its current systems or considered ways of obtaining the management information necessary for effective management and reporting of salary overpayments.

We will also examine the appropriation accounts for the National Shared Services Office. Among the issues we may focus on are commitments in respect of capital projects, the increase in costs for its financial management shared services project, and redundancy payments.”

This PAC meeting will start in Committee Room 3 at 9am on Thursday, 1 February 2018.

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.