The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been accused of “making a mockery” of the welfare crackdown after staff stole £600,000 from vulnerable benefits claimants.
More than £600,000 was lost to benefits-related fraud carried out by DWP employees and contract staff through 2025-26.
The figure is down from £1.7million losses to fraud in the previous year, but the new total brings the amount stolen by DWP workers in the past five years to around £4million.
William Yarwood of The Taxpayer’s Alliance has said the public would be “appalled” that benefits money was being stolen “from inside the very department meant to protect it”.
He told The i Paper that DWP staff fraud “makes a mockery of efforts to crack down on welfare abuse”.
He added: “Ministers must recover the money, sack anyone responsible and strengthen controls so the system protects taxpayers rather than being exploited by insiders.”
The DWP said robust controls had seen “the amount of taxpayer money stolen through internal benefit fraud in 2025-2026 stand at less than half of what it was in 2024-25.”
There were 40 internal investigations into benefits-related fraud in 2025-26.
Additionally, 16 investigations were undertaken into employees’ salaries, expenses, and other non-benefits-related fraud, adding a £103,681 loss.
The DWP’s latest reports show the incidents led to losses of £612,715.
Former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann told The i: “Clearly, the amount being stolen has fallen [since last year], but it is shocking that this kind of theft is still going on.”
He added it was “diverting hard-earned taxpayer money away from people needing help from the DWP”.
Shabaaz Mohammed, who works as a campaigner with Manchester Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “It’s not a small amount and it could be going to be people who need it. It shows the focus has been on the wrong people.
“There’s been so much rhetoric about benefit scroungers and the bloated welfare system – but there has been this fraud going on within their own department. The DWP should get its house in order.”
The DWP confirmed it was cooperating with authorities on criminal proceedings following the investigations.
An employee was dismissed and the subject of a criminal investigation, verified multiple benefits claims “with no evidence to support them”.
Another individual was arrested after they “abused customer ID verification processes” and approved benefits payments.
The latest report from the DWP did not specify the nature of the new criminal investigations.
The amount of money stolen by DWP staff is much lower than the amount lost due to benefits fraud among claimants.
There was £6.8billion in benefits fraud in 2025-26, according to the department, which is a slight increase on the previous year’s total of £6.5billion.
