People claiming benefits are being given money despite failing tests designed to stop fraud multiple times.
The number of Britons who receive benefits which do not require them to look for work has skyrocketed in recent years to one million, according to official figures.
A civil servant working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now told The Telegraph the benefit had become a “pension for life” because recipients are not required to be looking for work.
The DWP employee said: “They keep going and going. I see cases where people have failed checks nine or 10 times, but they stick at it and then they’re on the gravy train.”
An applicant’s ability to work is calculated through a doctor’s note, interviews with medical professionals, and National Insurance records.
But the whistleblower added: “People will try and try again to get limited capability to work because they’ve got a bad back.
Following Labour’s election victory last year, the number of people claiming Universal Credit with ‘no work requirements’ has shot up
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GETTY“Once they’ve got it, they treat it as a pension for life.”
While the civil servant did say the majority of those on Universal Credit were legitimate, they added the loopholes in the system allow people to “see a weakness and use it”.
Following Labour’s election victory last year, the number of people claiming Universal Credit with “no work requirements” has shot up, despite the party’s vow to tackle the country’s ballooning benefits bill.
Instead, the bill keeps ramping up, and is expected to hit £303billion this year – almost a quarter of the total annual budget.
Iain Duncan Smith said it was ‘no surprise’ the number of claims was increasing
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PA
A number of key checks were temporarily removed during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who built the means-tested Universal Credit system, said it was “no surprise” the number of claims was increasing.
He said: “We are now paying for a stupid policy during Covid that slackened off sanctions and slackened checks.
“We still don’t have face-to-face interviews much. If people can find some way of getting money for nothing, they’ll do it.”
Problems arise because benefits must be approved even if someone suspects fraud – unless there is a clear reason not to.
The whistleblower said: “You can’t just refuse it just because you think it could be fraudulent.
“Unless you can pin them on it, you have to give them the money.”
One method employed by suspected fraudsters is to spam Government phone lines until they get the money they want.
“They call ten or 20 times in a day and hope someone will be half asleep and just give them the money,” the civil servant fumed.
“Any weakness in the system, they will try and exploit it to the maximum.
“There’s too many people willing to give the money away.”
A spokesman for the DWP said: “We have zero tolerance for benefit fraud. Last year we saved around £25billion through our robust oreventative activity and upfront controls to stop fraudsters from stealing taxpayers’ money.
“Our Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill will allow us to go further, saving £1.5billion over the next five years.
“This forms part of wider Government plans that the OBR estimated will save a total of £9.6billion by 2030.
“When we find evidence of fraud, we take immediate action by correcting benefit payments and prosecuting the most serious cases.”