Universal credit: Whistleblower exposes how millions of pounds were stolen by fraudsters

Fraudulent Universal Credit claims were not taken seriously, the worker told The Telegraph.

The claims were even linked to a Bulgarian jang stung for obtaining at least £50million.

Judge David Aaronberg, sentencing the gang on Thursday, accused the Department for Work & Pensions of demonstrating “woefully inadequate checking systems”.

The DWP insider added: “[An agent] asks for these documents to be provided so they can verify the claim but they don’t know what they are looking at.

“They just take it for granted that [a claimant] has uploaded birth certificates and they’ve uploaded a tenancy agreement. But the children don’t exist and there is no housing, or it’s a false tenancy agreement.”

Universal Credit claimants receive an additional £333 a month for their first child and £288 for each additional child.

Claimants must provide legitimate birth certificates to cash in on the extra pot.

• Pension savings can be passed on inheritance tax free
• Saffron Building Society launches 'market leading' 8% regular savings account - but for a limited time only
• DWP benefit and pension payment dates for June 2024

A letter from a landlord included a housing benefit payment of almost £1,300 a month despite a discrepancy between the name of the claimant in the subject line and the person named in the main body of the letter.

Separate inconsistencies, including the property being larger than official records showed, were also overlooked.

The DWP official added: “It was just absolutely ludicrous.

“I knew what [pay] nurses were on at that time and the work and the stress that they were going through.

“You could see these people living in better housing than what NHS staff were and they were getting money with it.

“They were getting paid for because there were no checks done on the actual system.

“They put down a landlord’s name for a housing benefit [but] the landlord didn’t exist or the landlord’s wasn’t that address or the landlord’s number.

“When we did a search on the phone number on our systems, that number would bring up 10 different names.”

The DWP last month controversially announced that a 2,500-strong team will be tasked with vetting claims for Universal Credit.

It would enable civil servants to identify applicants with savings of more than £16,000 unable to claim under current rules.

A Labour MP accused investigators of potentially carrying out “discriminatory practices” against Bulgarian nationals during a debate in Westminster Hall.

Speaking in January 2022, Edmonton MP Kate Osamor said: “While we remain in the dark about how this opaque team conducts its business, and with the cases that I know about being so overwhelmingly concentrated among Bulgarian nationals and other EU nationals, it is impossible not to suspect that potentially discriminatory practices are being carried out.”

She also complained to DWP about receiving dozens of letters from Bulgarian and Polish nationals residing in her North London constituency about having their benefits frozen.

However, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who pioneered the Universal Credit scheme while serving as David Cameron’s Work & Pensions Secretary, argued allegations of failures in the department were astonishing.

The Chingford & Woodford Green MP said: Prior to Covid, Universal Credit had very stringent checks and was pretty tight.

“It was all eased off too much I thought at the time and said so.

“It needs tightening up even more now to stop such fraud.”