Yesterday evening Guido reported that Jobcentre Plus officials had sent a desperate email to Department of Work and Pensions staff after learning that Dispatches were set to make a series of embarrassing revelations about their inability to crack down on benefit fraud. Now that the programme has aired, it’s not difficult to see why they were so worried.

Dispatches‘ allegations include:

• A Jobcentre Plus adviser signed off a claimant’s unemployment benefit application despite him actually submitting a shopping list.
• Another claimant remained on benefits despite writing “Please don’t give me a job” on his CV.
• Jobcentre staff failed to question whether a JSA claimant wearing paint-splattered overalls was actually in work.

Ruth Owen and co might be signing on themselves soon enough…