TfL pays thousands to dead employees

Transport for London has been paying thousands of pounds to dead pensioners, an inquiry has revealed.

An audit has uncovered a series of financial irregularities at the organisation, which is responsible for the capital's Tube and bus services, main roads and the congestion charge.

A TfL spokesman said the payments made to deceased pensioners had been exposed when inspectors crossreferenced their details with a list of active National Insurance numbers.

He said family members of former employees found to be illegally claiming payments would be prosecuted, with the courts likely to order them to return the money.

"TfL does, as farepayers would expect, investigate any allegation of fraud of any scale thoroughly," he said.

The number of internal financial investigations at TfL soared to 123, a rise of more than 150 per cent, in the past financial year. These included enquiries into four instances where TfL was continuing to pay the pensions of former employees long after they had died.

The report - being presented to TfL's audit committee today - raises questions about the organisation's ability to manage its five-year ?10 billion investment programme, citing weak financial controls.

The programme includes the ?1billion East London line extension and the proposed extension of the congestion charge zone.

The report exposes financial and administrative problems at TfL, including:

The rise in the number of investigations is being attributed to the handover of London Underground to Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003 and its incorporation into TfL, which now employs 19,000 staff.

Roger Evans, Tory chairman of the London Assembly transport committee, said: "This massive increase in fraud at TfL is disturbing in itself. That this includes bizarre cases of payments being made to dead pensioners shows there are clearly holes in TfL's accounting."

The report reveals that 57 of the 123 investigations have been classified as fraud, and 16 as theft. In 38 cases, police have been called in or the matter has ended with court action. Fourteen cases resulted in disciplinary action, while no offence was established in 51 instances.

The report said there was "no identifiable reason" for the increase in the number of fraud investigations, although staff were increasingly prepared to "blow the whistle".