Bungling welfare chiefs paid over £230k in handouts to lags in a year and only got 14% back

BUNGLING welfare chiefs paid more than £230,000 in handouts to prisoners in a year — and only got 14 per cent of it back.

Caged thugs are not entitled to any form of state benefits.

Alamy

Bungling welfare chiefs paid more than £230,000 in handouts to prisoners in a year — and only got 14 per cent of it back[/caption]

But figures obtained by The Sun show £1.13million has been dished out to them in the last five years.

Dodgy payouts include £497,000 in Universal Credit and £10,000 in Jobseeker’s Allowance — despite lags not being able to attend.

Department for Work and Pensions appointments or job centres.

And the stats show recovery rates have tumbled.

Of the £239,100 “overpayments” in 2022/23, £33,500 — 14 per cent — was returned.

But in 2019/20, officials clawed back £101,900 from overpayments of £344,800 — a 30 per cent return.

And in the 11 months since last April, only £6,000 of £115,000 paid has been reclaimed — 5.2 per cent.

John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be furious about these bungled benefits payments.”

The DWP said: “Fraud and error in the system remains low, over 95 per cent of ­benefits are paid correctly.

“The amount overpaid to prisoners is a tiny fraction, representing 0.0001 per cent of benefit spend.”