22/02/2012

Four Arrested For Welfare-To-Work Fraud

Four employs of A4e, a company running a government welfare-to-work contract, have been arrested for suspected fraud.

The two men and two women were arrested on January 18 as part of an ongoing investigation into the company by Thames Valley Police after the company was referred to them by the Department for Work and Pensions.

A4e, chaired by Emma Harrison, was awarded the government contract by prime minister David Cameron in 2010 to help troubled families back into work. Its five shareholders each received £11 million in dividends in 2011, of which Harrison took 87%.

A statement from A4e read, “A4e employs over 3,500 staff across the UK and overseas, out of more than 250 offices. This incident relates to four people, so we are dealing with a very small number of individuals." With the chief executive, Andrew Dutton, adding, "I will not sit by and let these accusations discredit the hard work that our staff do to support thousands of people into work.”

The four former employees’ are alleged to have falsely claimed to have placed people in work. They have been released on bail until mid-March

(H)

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