Fraud probe arrests at government contractor A4e

FOUR people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud at employment services firm and government contractor A4e, police have confirmed.

The former staff – women aged 28 and 49 and two men, aged 35 and 41 – were held last month and bailed until mid-March.

Sheffield-based A4e describes itself as a “social purpose company” with much of its income coming from government contracts managing programmes that help people access training and get back into work.

The Government said it understood the investigation into A4e’s offices in Slough, Berkshire, did not relate to its Work Programme.

A4e said it had uncovered the alleged fraud, which dated back to 2010, through its own internal investigation.

In a statement, A4e said: “This incident occurred two years ago and relates to four former employees out of a workforce of over 3,500 staff across the UK and internationally, operating out of 250 offices.
 
“All four members of staff have now left the business. Three of the staff were suspended once the allegations had been made to allow for full investigation, and the other had already left the business.
 
“This situation was discovered by A4e in November 2010, through its internal systems. A4e reported the incident to DWP (The Department for Work and Pensions) within 48 hours, following a local, internal investigation.

“A4e instigated a 100% validation check of all claims under this contract across all our staff, for the period 1 April 2009 to 22 June 2011 when the contract ended. No further issues were found.”

Chief executive Andrew Dutton said the organisation had a “zero tolerance” view of fraud and that any illegal activity was “completely unacceptable”.

“We take our responsibility very seriously, and we are committed to using taxpayer’s money effectively and efficiently to deliver the best services to the public,” he added.
 
Thames Valley Police said the four people had been arrested and released on police bail until mid-March.

The government’s main welfare-to-work scheme is the Work Programme which sees contractors paid a fee when a job centre refers an unemployed person to them.

TheBusinessDesk.com reported earlier last month how A4e, founded by Emma Harrison more than 20 years ago, saw profits rise by more than a third to £15m last year.

Revenue grew from £190.1m to £234.3m for the year to the end of March. It has operations across the world.