Welfare-to-work firm A4e knew of widespread potential fraud and systemic 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 internal audit it had made "significant enhancements" to all its systems, including appointing external auditors. It added that further investigation had found only five irregular claims had been made, all relating to a single employee. A4e said it had reported this to the Department for Work and Pensions' Risk Assurance Division and that the department had said it was satisfied the matter had been resolved and that its audit requirements had been met. Call for suspension The Department for Work and Pensions, which was passed a copy of the leaked document on Thursday, issued a statement saying: "The Wor...