UK Unemployment Corruption

A4e, owned and run by Cameron's 'Family's Champion' and one of the companies contracted to deliver the government's back to work programme, is currently under investigation for fraud.

'Back to work' tsar at centre of fraud probe over claims 'funding went on jobs lasting just a day'

The company run by David Cameron’s ‘Back to Work Tsar’ Emma Harrison is at the centre of a fraud investigation.
The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed last night that a probe into A4e – headed by Mrs Harrison – was under way.



Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

More articles about Ms Harrison and her company, A4e

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Originally posted by teapot
A4e, owned and run by Cameron's 'Family's Champion' and one of the companies contracted to deliver the government's back to work programme, is currently under investigation for fraud.

'Back to work' tsar at centre of fraud probe over claims 'funding went on jobs lasting just a day'

The company run by David Cameron’s ‘Back to Work Tsar’ Emma Harrison is at the centre of a fraud investigation.
The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed last night that a probe into A4e – headed by Mrs Harrison – was under way.



Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

More articles about Ms Harrison and her company, A4e

www.dailymail.co.uk...

i imagine a huge logistical nightmare with this. are the gubbbermint prepared to suspend all activities that a4e are currently contracted for whilst the probe occurs? could this be an audit of mass destruction?

this topic is, against my prior opinion, gaining ground in the media. bbc4 yesterday spoke of the stores pulling out of the work experience program. sky news ran the story for approx 30 seconds...

f

reply to post by fakedirt


More from MSM about govt unemployment policy and the demonisation of the non-working poor. Incidently, it is not only the unemployed sick and disabled being targeted in this way, Shapps the housing minister has been very helpful backing Cameron's assertion that people who live in social housing are the bane of society and the cause of the country's economic woes.

This is not wartime Nazi Germany and Cameron's attacks on the vulnerable and needy must be stopped

...over the past week or so I have sat back and watched our Coalition Government surpass itself in its campaign of terror against some of the most needy in our society.

There that David Cameron's Tory party could become even more dastardly, even more duplicitous, in their devastating aims against those in vulnerable groups - sick, disabled, single parent families and the elderly - but they have.

Take their next much-vaunted initiative - the Workfare programme. Controversial certainly - who can forget the graduate who declined to work at Poundland as part of the scheme? She who was reviled and martyred, depending on your political persuasion, reading pleasure and sense of justice, for refusing to work at the budget chain store so that she would continue to receive 'benefits' as she searched for the job she had studied and qualified for.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Pressure mounts on David Cameron's 'inspirational' back to work czar Emma Harrison of A4e.

'Suspend millionaire back to work tsar': MPs demand Cameron acts after police probe job placements that last just ONE DAY

Emma Harrison's firm A4e is accused of receiving fees from the taxpayer after finding people jobs lasting just 24 hours
The company has won state contracts worth millions over the last 20 years
She awarded herself £8.6million of mainly taxpayers' cash this month
David Cameron had hailed her an 'inspiration' to his employment campaign
But Labour MPs claim A4e's record on finding people jobs is 'abysmal'

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

Good to see the media (well the Daily Mail) finally waking up to these fraudulent companies preying on the most vulnerable to turn a profit.

reply to post by teapot


two close friends of mine are disabled. one physically and the other mentally. i am in daily contact with both of them. both guys struggle with the most simple of tasks and have near zero capacity for any form of work experience. my wife is disabled and i take the tasks on that she cannot. when atos took over the assessments for disability benefits, she was called in for examination accompanied by her mother. that examination put her on her back for at least a fortnight and then she received a letter stating she no longer qualified for assistance. they had no idea whatsoever! to say i was pissed off is an understatement. when the next assessments come around i will be present taking notes on this firm whilst the assessment is underway. the people i know who have been through these examinations have been for the most part left distressed and borderline suicidal. this system needs a compassion injection before i label it not fit for purpose. i appreciate the gubbermint needs to lower the benefits burden, however treating people like cattle through tendered-out private company assessments is very unnerving as these companies are paid by results and i translate that to mean reduction of numbers on benefits.
mr cameron and co are doing an excellent job in stigmatising the vunerable and bending the perception that those on benefits are sponging. there are vunerable people out there, i know quite a few. there are also those out there who are riding the system and they should be dealt with.

regarding the jsa plus expenses work experience program. chris grayling on saturdays bbc4 radio interview stressed that all these efforts to embed work experience into jobseekers was voluntary. if the individual pulled out after accepting the program, a limited action against them would be mandated.
personally i do hope these companies raking in vast revenues and using the system to increase profits are all audited to the highest standards possible. we need gurus with prevoyance who understand that what is required is the need for skills beyond shelf stacking and waiting tables. take a look at the german model. they are technically superior in many ways when it comes to manufacturing and retention of work. what happened england?
f

BBC Link

A bbc news article about a4e being investigated for fraud. Maybe the TPTB to follow ATS ???

reply to post by colec156


yes. it's now on the msn networks. from what i have read, the four individuals were arrested in mid january. labour mp margaret hodge, chairing the public accounts committee stated that a4e's performance was 'abysmal'.

the peeps on here who have been affected by this and other programs related to the welfare to work setup imo need to present brief e-mails to margaret hodge whilst this scrutiny is undertaken. if there is an underhand current of fraud running inside this company, it requires exposure and the more who e-mail the merrier.
regards f.

Like folk say...Everything comes out in the wash.
I'm actually surprised this wasn't hushed quickly and swept under the carpet till election.

It sounds like this will go down as 'a few bad eggs' and it will be business as usual.

A4e are still in line to bid on a new £126m contract.

A4e boss has now resigned.

www.24dash.com...

Entrepreneur Emma Harrison has stepped down from her Government role as a "family champion" following a fraud investigation at her welfare-to-work company A4e.

In a statement to the BBC, she said: "I have asked to step aside from my voluntary role as family champion as I do not want the current media environment to distract from the very important work with troubled families," she said in a statement.

Last night, CEO Andrew Dutton said:“I can’t emphasise enough that there is no place for fraud at A4e, and that is why we have created rigorous internal processes, cooperate with all external audits, and have brought any known issues to the attention of the authorities.

A4e is one of the contractors for the Government’s Work Programme - which is notably working with housing associations to help the unemployed get back into work.

The company has signed millions of pounds of contracts over the past few years - £180 million just in 2011. It was reported last week that her company's shareholders had been paid £11 million in dividends last year, of which she got £8 million.

£8 million in dividends? (Remember, A4e is a 'social enterprise', there not for profit!). Off the backs of the long term unemployed? And the public deemed to stupid to understand that external audits that give the all clear to this filthy misappropriation of public money, merely supports this type of corruption?

reply to post by mr-lizard


same thing happened to me, looks like some one reported you as a benefit cheat. If this is the case, as it was for me, an investigator will call. I found the lady who called round mine was friendly enough and, as i wasn't doing anything i shouldn't, i told her this and she accepted it. All it means if anybody reports me again, it'll be taken much more seriously. just to clarify I AM IN NO WAY COMMITTING BENEFIT FRAUD, and i'd assume you're not either. There is a '24 hour snitch line' for benefit fraud and they offer cash, so don't take it too personally.

Brilliant post.

I'd rather be poor and happy/free then be owned and made to feel like unworthy scum that's only good for jobs no one else wants to do...
The best thing I ever did was to rip up my job seekers agreement, it felt like a massive pressure had been released.


I was in the same situation maybe 10 years ago.
The job centre sent me on numerous courses.. random team building courses etc with threats of loosing the financial help I was getting if I didn't attend. None of these courses were relevant my my job search nor did they produce any work..

In the end I used to dread going to the job centre to sign on and be forced into temporary agency jobs that no one else would do.. I'm talking about things like cleaning up chemical spills at factory's or picking up hazardous waste from clinics and surgery's..

S&F from me

I hope things work out for you.

reply to post by VoidHawk

er dude you can sort out your training for plant from a tool hire company ,one of my family members owns one,yes you have to pay but i had to pay for my standard driving licence to and which plant are you talking about i have a very nice all terrain tele handler licence which i had to pay to get as well ,,dude if you didnt save some of your money to get qualified ,dont expect a hand out ive no sympathy for you ,,,and my brother he has a hgv and has no problems getting a job,,, yes i expect the i cannot get employed job schemes are retarded but thats because the majority of people attending them are to ,,,,seriously i have never had trouble getting a job in the uk,or know anybody who couldnt who has been genuinely looking for work and that includes the present day to when the recession started,,,,perhaps it might be there lacking at certain skills that make them employable

reply to post by stuthealien


Maybe you didnt read the whole OP?

First of all, my savings were eaten away because we were on short time for such a long time. I even worked for three weeks without pay helping the receivers when they attempted to sell the company.

Second, For many years I have paid tax and NI, why was I paying that if it was not to help me?

Third do you understand what "No money" actualy means?

"Hand outs" Thats a good one, consider what is actualy happening. Our UK government is taking £BILLIONS from the EU for the purpose of training a workforce. Are you suggesting they should be allowed to take that money and give it to privatley owned companys who refuse to offer training? All these companys do is FORCE people to take work for benefit jobs or they lose their benefit, the same benefit they (an myself) have already paid for via tax and NI contributions.

Like I said, did you read the whole OP?

Originally posted by VoidHawk
reply to post by stuthealien

 

Maybe you didnt read the whole OP?

First of all, my savings were eaten away because we were on short time for such a long time. I even worked for three weeks without pay helping the receivers when they attempted to sell the company.

Second, For many years I have paid tax and NI, why was I paying that if it was not to help me?

Third do you understand what "No money" actualy means?

"Hand outs" Thats a good one, consider what is actualy happening. Our UK government is taking £BILLIONS from the EU for the purpose of training a workforce. Are you suggesting they should be allowed to take that money and give it to privatley owned companys who refuse to offer training? All these companys do is FORCE people to take work for benefit jobs or they lose their benefit, the same benefit they (an myself) have already paid for via tax and NI contributions.

Like I said, did you read the whole OP?

Hi Voidhawk, I read your OP and a bit of the thread but it got overwhelming by about page 4

If I give my summary of what I think is happening, could you correct me as I go?

Here goes, I'll centre my take on it and you correct me where needed -

From my understanding- the government is taking tax payer money to give to private companies such as A4E, that are then tasked with providing the youth and long term unemployed with better job skills and a chance of employment?

But what is happening is that these companies then get money off the government again through an almost commission based reward system where if someone completes a piece of training then they get money?

Whilst this is going on, the companies are working with large private companies such and getting the people to work for them for their benefits- hence the company gets money for getting the person work experience and the large prviate companies are essentially gaining free labour (slaves to an extent!).

My younger brother is 21 now, for a couple of years he was on jobseeker's allowance (is this the same as A4E?) and he had to attend all kinds of mind numbing, patronising bull # courses teaching him how to write a CV etc- he'd just spent his childhood in school and college then was looked down upon each time he went the jobcentre. He had to travel ridiculous lengths to attend interviews and talks etc, it seemed to me at the time like an incredible waste of time and money. He never really spoke about it that much though, so I never really got to understand what was going on. I was just sorry for him, he's a hard working kid, to be patronised and looked down by snotty women in job centres like they're better than you, I just don't get where they get their kicks from.

Thanks for any input if you can clarify what is actually going on.

Originally posted by Wonderer2012

From my understanding- the government is taking tax payer money to give to private companies such as A4E, that are then tasked with providing the youth and long term unemployed with better job skills and a chance of employment?

But what is happening is that these companies then get money off the government again through an almost commission based reward system where if someone completes a piece of training then they get money?

Whilst this is going on, the companies are working with large private companies such and getting the people to work for them for their benefits- hence the company gets money for getting the person work experience and the large prviate companies are essentially gaining free labour (slaves to an extent!).

That about sums it up.
The training that they offer is basicaly - How to be a good compliant worker.
The money they receive can be as much as 12k per person but they woud not even help me renew a fork lift ticket which cost £280. Sounds alot but it would have gotten me off the dole.
The company they sent me too recieved £400 as soon as I walked in the door. The big bucks kicks in when they get you into work. If they can get you into a work for benefits job they get the money and know you'll be back soon because theres a maximum time limit for that and around you go again. Everyone wins except us.

Its not just the moneys that they are reaping though, its what I can only describe as brainwashing too.
I'm not surprised your brother didnt say much about it, if he went through what I had to endure he probably felt like it was all his own fault.

Hope your brothers out of the system now, if not tell him to ask questions, make lots of noise, and dont let them grind him down.

Originally posted by VoidHawk

Originally posted by Wonderer2012

From my understanding- the government is taking tax payer money to give to private companies such as A4E, that are then tasked with providing the youth and long term unemployed with better job skills and a chance of employment?

But what is happening is that these companies then get money off the government again through an almost commission based reward system where if someone completes a piece of training then they get money?

Whilst this is going on, the companies are working with large private companies such and getting the people to work for them for their benefits- hence the company gets money for getting the person work experience and the large prviate companies are essentially gaining free labour (slaves to an extent!).

That about sums it up.
The training that they offer is basicaly - How to be a good compliant worker.
The money they receive can be as much as 12k per person but they woud not even help me renew a fork lift ticket which cost £280. Sounds alot but it would have gotten me off the dole.
The company they sent me too recieved £400 as soon as I walked in the door. The big bucks kicks in when they get you into work. If they can get you into a work for benefits job they get the money and know you'll be back soon because theres a maximum time limit for that and around you go again. Everyone wins except us.

Its not just the moneys that they are reaping though, its what I can only describe as brainwashing too.
I'm not surprised your brother didnt say much about it, if he went through what I had to endure he probably felt like it was all his own fault.

Hope your brothers out of the system now, if not tell him to ask questions, make lots of noise, and dont let them grind him down.

Thanks for your reply

The part you mention about them getting you into 'work for benefits' is scary- the business gets free labour and the agency gets paid by the tax payer! What a vicious scam.

My brother thankfully got a job- he got it with a newly opened supermarket (who I am led to believe got their go ahead by offering to employ people from the dole). Sadly he hates it, managers just pushing and pushing for more and more work out of everyone, I know it's their job but there's limits, he's working as hard as he can.

Good luck OP

well, it seems chris grayling and other ministers are severing ties with a4e. some serious flaws were discovered during an audit so i suspect the washing of hands before any possible criminal charges are brought to bear on those involved in 'suspect' successful remunerations.

source bbc text.

regards fakedirt.

reply to post by VoidHawk


It's awful that you had to go through that OP, but at least you weren't claiming sick benefits and forced to go to the company Atos, where the staff who deal with you are actually on performance related pay and they pretty much fail everyone's medical, no matter what your GP (and in my case 2 different hospitals) says.

Took me around 2 years to work it out and in the end I needed to get help and sought legal advice for my appeal.

Being sick or unemployed is hard enough without there being organisations that are there solely to get in your way whilst taking money from a system that doesn't really have it to spare.

Makes me resent all those years where I paid 40% tax. Gits! *grrr*

Rev

reply to post by revmoofoo


Oh the lovely people from ATOS, the ones sponsoring the Paralympics. Meanwhile, the ones who are a French private company given British tax payers money to give out medical decisions they have no expertise in giving out.

It's a national disgrace.

Caution, strong language in video