Benefit payment money for state pensioners, disabled Britons and carers has been stolen by employees of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), an investigation has found.
During the 2024-25 tax year, more than £1.7million in cash ringfenced for Universal Credit and other payments was lost as a result of benefit fraud conducted by DWP workers.
An investigation found that some staff members have redirected funds for their own benefit at the expense of vulnerable benefit claimants. Over the years, DWP employees have been given suspended sentences and jailed for stealing benefit money.
This latest revelation about employee fraud within the department comes as the Government has pledged to clampdown on claimants who are considered "benefit cheats".
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|Money reserved for pensioners was stolen by DWP employees
Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, told The i Paper: "DWP staff stealing money from benefit claimants is obviously really shocking.
"Unfortunately, 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.
"The department must absolutely crack down on such bad behaviour and criminal charges would seem to be in order."
According to the DWP's 2024-25 annual report, one dismissed employee who is under criminal investigation verified multiple Britons' claims "with no evidence to support them".
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PA | Universal Credit is the primary benefit payment administered by the DWP
Another worker was found to have "abused customer ID verification processes" and approved benefit payments.
The Government's own internal fraud team has conducted 25 investigations which has uncovered losses worth £1.7million as a result of benefits-related fraud among DWP workers and contractors from April 2024 to March 2025.
As it stands, the DWP has 87,000 staff members in total.. The department has also carried out 22 investigations for fraud related to staff salary and expenses which has seen losses of nearly £44,000.
Since 2020, more than £6million of taxpayers’ money has been lost due to fraud by DWP staff since 2020, with the highest figures coming in 2025.
It should be noted that the amount of taxpayer money swindled by DWP staff is far less than the amount lost due to benefits fraud among claimants.
In 2024-25, the Government wrote off £5.8million due to customer fraud in 2024-2025, which it said it would not be able to be recover. The total level of customer fraud is estimated to be £6.5bukkuibn, based on DWP analysis.
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PA | Money reserved for benefit claimants has been stolen by DWP workers, an investigation has found
Analysts from the TaxPayers' Alliance has hit back at the DWP and asserted that Britons said the public "will be furious that fraud is festering within the very department meant to safeguard public money” and called for consequences for "staff caught ripping off the public”.
Joanna Marchong, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said Labour “talks tough on cracking down on benefits fraud” but accused the Government of “turning a blind eye to wrongdoing in its own ranks”.
A spokesperson for the DWP said the department takes fraud "extremely seriously" and "when there is evidence of wrongdoing, an employee is subject to disciplinary action and dismissal".
They added: “Cases are also referred for consideration for criminal prosecution."