Back-to-work tsar firm A4e gets two new state contracts worth up to £30m despite fraud probes

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Back-to-work tsar firm A4e gets two new state contracts worth up to £30m despite fraud probes

This is a duplicate of the Blog Entry made on 14th March 2012 11:18.

*Another silly move by the Gov' let alone allowing this person.........* The embattled firm owned by David Cameron's former 'back-to-work' tsar...

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[Handyman]

Re: Back-to-work tsar firm A4e gets two new state contracts worth up to £30m despite fraud probes

Phew something smells fishy . Perhaps they will be teaching the Prisoners English, Maths and Fraud!

As if there are not enough Good unemployed Teachers and mentors out there who could be employed direct by the Prison Service to provide educational services, this job has to be Outsourced (how I hate that term) who will pay their staff the minimum while skimming a fat profit off the top.

Where do the people at the top get these Ideas from!!!!

Regards, Handy.

[5corpio]

Re: Back-to-work tsar firm A4e gets two new state contracts worth up to £30m despite fraud probes

Leaked document suggests 'systematic fraud' at A4e

Welfare-to-work firm A4e knew of widespread potential fraud and systematic failures by management to control it, a leaked document suggests. BBC Newsnight has obtained the results of a confidential 2009 internal audit of work by A4e's top recruiters. The auditors found staff claiming for putting people into jobs which did not exist, jobs which did not qualify for payment and fabricating paperwork. A4e responded to the report by saying that it was a draft document only. It said that as a result of the audit it had made "significant enhancements" to all its systems. It added that further investigation had determined that only one person had done anything wrong and that it had paid money back. A4e said this was reported to the DWP's Risk Assurance Division and that the DWP had said its audit requirements had been fully met.

Call for suspension

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which was passed a copy of the leaked document on Thursday, issued a statement saying: "The Work and Pensions Select Committee was made aware of this audit at the time and the department later received assurances from A4e that it had not uncovered any major issues." The DWP statement went on to say that "while the internal A4e document relates to programmes delivered by the previous government, our investigation into current contracts will ensure the issues this report raises have been fully addressed". Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said of the document:

"This appears to be devastating evidence of systemic fraud within A4e. Either A4e failed to act or to inform DWP, or they did inform DWP and the department failed to investigate properly. "Whichever, it is completely unacceptable. Once again, I am urging the department to suspend all its contracts with A4e immediately."

Fresh arrest

Earlier this month the DWP launched an investigation into A4e's work, saying that the department had been made aware of an allegation of attempted fraud in relation to a contract with the firm......Read more on here----> BBC News - Leaked document suggests at A4e