Providers under government contract accused of fraud

The National Audit Office should investigate recruitment companies under government contract to help the long-term unemployed into work, said MP Terry Rooney, Chair of the Work and Pension Committee, in a Channel 4 report yesterday. Investigations have shown that individuals within several private companies contracted to run welfare to work programmes fabricated paperwork and faked results in order to get government payments for job ‘outcomes'.

A4e is being investigated, and Working Links has undergone several government probes since 2007, having had to pay back £42,000 after an inquiry into its progress2work provision according to the programme, which showed that people who had never been problem drug users were signed up for the programme.

A4e had been expected to sign contracts worth £100m for the Flexible New Deal. There is no evidence of systematic fraud being carried out by private contractors, according to Jim Knight, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform. However, DWP does not publish the findings of its investigations.