\n\t\t\t\t\tSome DWP staff have been diverting benefits payments for vulnerable people into their own bank accounts\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
Benefits cash<\/a> intended for carers, pensioners and disabled people<\/a> has been stolen by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employees, The i Paper has found.<\/p>\n Some staff have siphoned off benefits money for their own gain. They have also abused the system by ignoring rules to approve claims for people who may not be entitled to benefits, according to an official government report.<\/p>\n In total, more than \u00a31.7m was lost in 2024-2025 because of DWP employee benefits fraud.<\/p>\n In the past, staff have been jailed or received a suspended sentence for stealing employment and support allowance, carer\u2019s allowance and winter fuel payments<\/a> by diverting the money into their own bank accounts.<\/p>\n The revelation of fraud among a small number of staff in charge of benefits for the country\u2019s most vulnerable people is likely to put pressure on the Government, which has promised to crack down on claimants who are \u201cbenefit cheats\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, said: \u201cDWP staff stealing money from benefit claimants is obviously really shocking.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, it seems there will always be a few bad apples, but overall I would think that our civil service staff are trustworthy and will also be horrified to hear some of their colleagues have helped themselves to money needed by disabled or vulnerable claimants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe department must absolutely crack down on such bad behaviour and criminal charges would seem to be in order.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Wrongdoing in government\u2019s own ranks\u2019<\/p>\n The Taxpayers\u2019 Alliance said the public \u201cwill be furious that fraud is festering within the very department meant to safeguard public money\u201d and called for consequences for \u201cstaff caught ripping off the public\u201d.<\/p>\n Joanna Marchong, from the Taxpayers\u2019 Alliance, said the Government \u201ctalks tough on cracking down on benefits fraud\u201d but accused it of \u201cturning a blind eye to wrongdoing in its own ranks\u201d.<\/p>\n The DWP\u2019s 2024-2025 annual report said one employee, who was dismissed and is the subject of a criminal investigation, verified multiple people\u2019s benefits claims \u201cwith no evidence to support them\u201d.<\/p>\n Another staffer \u201cabused customer ID verification processes\u201d and approved benefits payments. They were arrested by police and dismissed.<\/p>\n It is unclear whether the staff approved claims for people they knew. The DWP said it was cooperating with ongoing criminal proceedings The Government\u2019s internal fraud team carried out 25 investigations \u2013 resulting in the discovery of losses of \u00a31.7m \u2013 into benefits-related fraud among DWP employees and contractors from April 2024 to March 2025. The DWP has 87,000 staff members in total.<\/p>\n It also carried out 22 investigations for fraud related to staff salary and expenses \u2013 amounting to losses of nearly \u00a344,000 \u2013 but the report did not give any further detail about the cases.<\/p>\n More than \u00a36m of taxpayers\u2019 money has been lost due to fraud by DWP staff <\/strong>since 2020, with the highest figures in 2025.<\/p>\n The amount of money stolen by DWP staff is far less than the amount lost due to benefits fraud among claimants. The Government wrote off \u00a35.8m due to customer fraud in 2024-2025, which it said it would not be able to be recoup. The total level of customer fraud is estimated to be \u00a36.5bn, based on a sampling exercise ran by the DWP.<\/p>\n Suspended sentence for ESA fraud<\/p>\n In 2023, a woman from Liverpool who worked for the DWP was given a suspended sentence after diverting 20 payments of employment and support allowance \u2013 amounting to \u00a37,600 \u2013 meant for genuine claimants into her own bank account.<\/p>\n She said she used the money to fund her gambling addiction.<\/p>\n The Crown Prosecution Service said she \u201cabused her position of trust to take this money\u201d and that she had \u201creimbursed all of the money that she stole and it is clear she regrets what she did\u201d.<\/p>\n In a separate case, a former DWP worker in Sunderland was jailed after stealing over \u00a38,000 in winter fuel payments<\/a> and carer\u2019s allowance payments in early 2023, diverting the benefits into his own bank account.<\/p>\n
and was reviewing both investigations.<\/p>\n