Cavalier with Public Money
Public services are a mixed bag when it comes to quality and service delivery, in my experience: even when they are broadly speaking doing a 'good job' there are parts that are dysfunctional, for example the terrible treatment of patients and their families at Mid Staffordshire Hospital or recent cases of abuse in care homes.
So it's important that these services, which are many and varied, are inspected regularly on an independent basis because people on the outside looking in uncover situations like this one reported recently in The Times where an asylum seeker was allowed to make a fool of the system and the taxpayer into the bargain.
Yet no one, including the thieving asylum seeker, seems to have paid a price for playing so fast and loose with public money.
Migrant benefit cheats escape justice
Fraud by asylum seekers who were being supported by the state could be running at £1.2m a year Scott Barbour/Getty Images
By Richard Ford - The Times
The Home Office is failing to tackle fraud by asylum seekers who are receiving state help, according to a report published yesterday by the immigration watchdog.
John Vine, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that even when fraud was spotted, little effort was made to get the money back or to bring prosecutions.
In one case an asylum seeker received £18,000 in asylum support plus £74,000 in other benefits and from working illegally, but no attempt was made to recover the cash. Another migrant who was receiving asylum support gave a series of interviews to the media about the business that he ran.
Mr Vine estimated that fraud by asylum seekers who were being supported by the state could be running at £1.2 million a year, or even higher.
He said: “The administration of the asylum support represents a significant challenge for the Home Office. It must balance the need to provide assistance to vulnerable applicants against the public interest in deterring fraudulent support claims.
“I found no evidence that the Home Office had an effective strategy to identify and tackle fraud in the asylum support system.”
Migrants claiming asylum in the UK can seek support from the Home Office to pay living costs, including accommodation.
The system had a budget of £155 million in 2013-14 and, at the end of last September, 26,731 asylum seekers were receiving support.
The report highlighted cases in which asylum seekers had signs of wealth, including thousands of pounds in the bank, a car and computers.
The asylum seeker who was paid £18,000 of taxpayers’ money during a period when he also received £74,000 in benefits, an NHS bursary and wages from illegal working, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence last January after being found guilty of fraud and using false documents.
However, Mr Vine’s report said he found no evidence that UK Visas and Immigration had tried to reclaim the money, even though the offender had £10,500 in two bank accounts.
The Home Office is failing to tackle fraud by asylum seekers who are receiving state help, according to a report published yesterday by the immigration watchdog.
John Vine, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that even when fraud was spotted, little effort was made to get the money back or to bring prosecutions.
In one case an asylum seeker received £18,000 in asylum support plus £74,000 in other benefits and from working illegally, but no attempt was made to recover the cash. Another migrant who was receiving asylum support gave a series of interviews to the media about the business that he ran.
Mr Vine estimated that fraud by asylum seekers who were being supported by the state could be running at £1.2 million a year, or even higher.
He said: “The administration of the asylum support represents a significant challenge for the Home Office. It must balance the need to provide assistance to vulnerable applicants against the public interest in deterring fraudulent support claims.
“I found no evidence that the Home Office had an effective strategy to identify and tackle fraud in the asylum support system.”
Migrants claiming asylum in the UK can seek support from the Home Office to pay living costs, including accommodation.
The system had a budget of £155 million in 2013-14 and, at the end of last September, 26,731 asylum seekers were receiving support.
The report highlighted cases in which asylum seekers had signs of wealth, including thousands of pounds in the bank, a car and computers.
The asylum seeker who was paid £18,000 of taxpayers’ money during a period when he also received £74,000 in benefits, an NHS bursary and wages from illegal working, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence last January after being found guilty of fraud and using false documents.
However, Mr Vine’s report said he found no evidence that UK Visas and Immigration had tried to reclaim the money, even though the offender had £10,500 in two bank accounts.
