Gaffe hands inmates benefits

PRISONERS claimed almost £10,000 a week in benefit payments last year because handouts continued despite them being behind bars.

Convicts coined in payments for pensions, disability benefit, income support and jobseeker’s allowance despite being held in jail at taxpayers’ expense.

An estimated £485,000 was paid last year to people inside who were not entitled to it.

The vast majority of the handouts were classified as mistakes made in confusion over entitlements.

The bulk of the cash – £388,000 – was handed out in universal credit, the new payment in which various benefits are rolled up into one.

Elderly criminals found they still received £36,000 in pension payments and pension credit.

Another £22,000 was spent paying prisoners employment support allowance, despite the fact that being behind bars meant they could not hold down a job.

The figures were revealed in a freedom of information reply from the Department for

Work and Pensions. Other handouts were made as attendance allowance and carer’s allowance. A person’s entitlement to nearly all benefits stops as soon as they are locked up, although some inmates may have help with housing costs.

Latest figures show £79million a week in benefits is paid out by mistake or because of fraud.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “Paying benefits to those behind bars is preposterous.”

An DWP spokesman said: “Nearly 97 per cent of benefits are paid correctly, so fraud and error is low.we recovered more than a billion pounds last year.”