The Daily Mail reports that the first four ex-A4e staff in the long drawn out fraud case pleaded guilty at court in Reading yesterday. They admitted a total of 32 offences of fraud and forgery while working on a scheme called Inspire to Aspire, which ended in 2011. (There's a fifth person who couldn't get to the court and will plead guilty later.) The Mail claims credit for this case, but it was a whistle-blower who brought it all to light, and A4e has always claimed that it was their own audit processes which revealed the fraud, and they notified the police. However it was revealed, it is embarrassing, to say the least. Money was claimed for job outcomes which were fictitious. The fact that this first batch has pleaded guilty means we won't get to hear the details, but it appears to have involved forging outcome forms or signatures.
Sentencing hasn't happened yet. Eight more people are due for trial in October (!) so this drags on.
Hmmmm. The Mail are alleging that “taxpayers” were swindled by the fraudulent, dishonest conduct of some of A4E’s former staff members.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of money involved was trivial compared to the way that IDS is swindling the same “taxpayers” with his hugely wasteful, unsuccessful Welfare Reform project.
Fraud is fraud whether it is less than one percent of the welfare spend or less than one percent of a4e's turnover. Looks like we won't get to know why this happened or how much money was involved. Wonder what would have happened if a benefit claimant was out of the country as one of the defendants was.
DeleteYes taxpayers were swindled.. but the clients were even more swindled.. they assumed they would be helped, (stop laughing).. but when fraud was done it ruined the chances of others. cynic in me says perhaps they were asked to plead so that no other dirty laundry is aired.. but that could be me being overly cynical..
ReplyDeleteI noticed on the Indus Delta website that they have just figured out that Training should be offered,well I am sure most of the people who have been through the WP could of and have been stating this for the last 30 Months,but those of us that are on the PWSP are still told "no training" I have even asked about work placements or if it was possible to get Bus fare/ticket in order to pound the pavement,but this is not allowed.I scheduled an appointment to discuss courses or training that might be available as the JCP adviser/coach stated funds are available,I asked for a list of approved vendors,they will not provide/do not have any(It is like submitting planning permission) and because I requested the meeting I had to pay for the Bus fare,if the meeting had any merit I would not of minded.
DeleteI seem to recall that when this particular scandal broke in the media, A4E claimed that they had reimbursed the Mail’s precious “taxpayers” in full and that it was only a relatively small amount of money anyway.
ReplyDeleteIDS, however, has no intention even of apologizing to the “taxpayers” for the money that he has squandered since 2010.
Surely this, along with the news last week that A4E have posted a £17.5 million pound loss will mean the end of this company.
ReplyDeleteA4e will surely have assets to borrow against. Much as I would like to see all the WP providers fail it is going to be harder when the attachment fees are scrapped which is in April?
DeleteI am sure none of those people got millions of pounds in their bank accounts as a result.. it's always the same story, the wrong people being targeted and punished...
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree. I doubt if the perpetrators made much, if anything, from their crimes (other than maybe to meet a few targets and keep the bosses off their backs). I have seen this sort of thing before - primarily in hard selling environments where "sales". "results" and never ending "targets" are the be all and end all. I am not trying to justify their actions but low level fraud of this nature is a symptom of the headlong rush to privatise and make profit from services which rally belong in the public or non profit making sectors. This is not the only example - see G4s and the allegedly fraudulent claims for tagging dead people:
Deletehttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/11/g4s-investigated-overcharging-millions-pounds
Expect more of this sort of thing.
Gissajob, I agree with you. It is just sad that these people may even end up in prison when they really got nothing out of it.....why are those higher up, who really got cash out of that system not being looked at and investigated? How on earth could an employee of a company end up in a situation like that? Wouldn't the company and the funding body have the right systems to protect and avoid these situations? If they didn't, why not? And why are they not being questioned too? Conflict of interests maybe?
ReplyDeleteI'm speculating here. But it was A4e's practice to pay commission or bonuses to individuals in an office whose job it was to "get people into work". This would have been incentive enough to claim fraudulent outcomes. They say they've now stopped this, but I think they still pay team bonuses.
DeleteI thought you may be interested to hear that A4e have just stripped out a level of Senior Managers in their East Midlands contract area. Both Area Managers have gone within a week of each other in yet another sign that they are struggling
ReplyDelete