Some DWP staff have been diverting benefits payments for vulnerable people into their own bank accounts
Benefits cash intended for carers, pensioners and disabled people has been stolen by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employees, The i Paper has found.
Some staff have siphoned off benefits money for their own gain. They have also abused the system by ignoring rules to approve claims for people who may not be entitled to benefits, according to an official government report.
In total, more than £1.7m was lost in 2024-2025 because of DWP employee benefits fraud.
In the past, staff have been jailed or received a suspended sentence for stealing employment and support allowance, carer’s allowance and winter fuel payments by diverting the money into their own bank accounts.
The revelation of fraud among a small number of staff in charge of benefits for the country’s most vulnerable people is likely to put pressure on the Government, which has promised to crack down on claimants who are “benefit cheats”.
Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, said: “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.”
‘Wrongdoing in government’s own ranks’
The Taxpayers’ Alliance 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 the Government “talks tough on cracking down on benefits fraud” but accused it of “turning a blind eye to wrongdoing in its own ranks”.
The DWP’s 2024-2025 annual report said one employee, who was dismissed and is the subject of a criminal investigation, verified multiple people’s benefits claims “with no evidence to support them”.
Another staffer “abused customer ID verification processes” and approved benefits payments. They were arrested by police and dismissed.
It is unclear whether the staff approved claims for people they knew. The DWP said it was cooperating with ongoing criminal proceedings
and was reviewing both investigations.
The Government’s internal fraud team carried out 25 investigations – resulting in losses of £1.7m – into benefits-related fraud among DWP employees and contractors from April 2024 to March 2025. The DWP has 87,000 staff members in total.
It also carried out 22 investigations for fraud related to staff salary and expenses – amounting to losses of nearly £44,000 – but the report did not give any further detail about the cases.
More than £6m of taxpayers’ money has been lost due to fraud by DWP staff since 2020, with the 2025 figures being the highest year since then.
The amount of money stolen by DWP staff is far less than the amount lost due to benefits fraud among claimants. The Government wrote off £5.8m lost due to customer fraud in 2024-2025, which it said it would not be able to be recoup. But the total level of customer fraud is estimated to be £6.5bn, based on a sampling exercise ran by the DWP.
Suspended sentence for ESA fraud
In 2023, a woman from Liverpool who worked for the DWP was given a suspended sentence after diverting 20 payments of employment and support allowance – amounting to £7,600 – meant for genuine claimants into her own bank account.
She said she used the money to fund her gambling addiction.
The Crown Prosecution Service said she “abused her position of trust to take this money” and that she had “reimbursed all of the money that she stole and it is clear she regrets what she did”.
In a separate case, a former DWP worker in Sunderland was jailed after stealing over £8,000 in winter fuel payments and carer’s allowance payments in early 2023, diverting the benefits into his own bank account.
Horace Brooks, who worked for outsourcer G4S in a DWP call centre, used some of the money for groceries, trains and lottery tickets, according to the Sunderland Echo.
Judge Gavin Doig sentenced Brooks to eight months in jail, saying: “Ultimately, the money was received by the victims, but there will undoubtedly have been delays in payment due to your actions.
“People rely on this money and would have expected to receive it but didn’t because of your greed.
“You had the opportunity to steal from some of the most vulnerable in society and you did that.”
The DWP said it takes fraud “extremely seriously” and “when there is evidence of wrongdoing, an employee is subject to disciplinary action and dismissal”.
It added: “Cases are also referred for consideration for criminal prosecution.”