David Cameron's back to work champion - Emma Harrison quits amid fraud allegations

LONDON - A4e a training company funded by the government  is at the centre of a police investigation and could be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following the arrest of four of its former employees on suspicion of fraud.

The SFO also revealed that a former A4e subcontractor is being investigated in a separate police investigation and that the company has been at the heart of five serious investigations into financial irregularity since 2005.

It later emerged that the company, which is paid by the Government to find people paid jobs, forced unemployed clients to work for nothing in their own offices or face having their benefits stripped, it has emerged..

Now Mrs Harrison, 48, has told the Prime Minister that she intends to resign from her Government role.

She said: "I have asked to step aside from my voluntary role as Family Champion as I do not want the current media environment to distract from the very important work with troubled families.

A4e is paid by the Government to help the long term unemployed find jobs. The company receives payment for each person it finds a job for and employees were apparently paid a bonus each time they placed someone in work. However both payments are only made after someone has been employed for 13 weeks.
A4e say the police investigation centres solely on four former employees who are alleged to have falsely claimed people jobseekers had been placed in work.

But police sources say that the investigation goes wider than the four arrested people and is looking at the “wider practices” of the company. Officers have now spoken to a fifth employee about the allegations, but did not arrest the woman.
The police investigation is being overseen by Thames Valley Police, but Fiona Mactaggart MP has written to the SFO asking for an inquiry.

Sources said that the SFO’s resources would mean they would be well placed to take over the Thames Valley investigation.