DWP has been forced to withdraw a leaflet on benefit sanctions after comments from supposed claimants were revealed to be, errrr, made up and stuff.

The department ‘fessed up up after a freedom of information request from Welfare Weekly asked them to provide evidence that photos and comments on a disability benefits leaflet were real. They responded:

“The photos used are stock photos and along with the names do not belong to real claimants … The stories are for illustrative purposes only.

With an inquiry by MPs hearing evidence of arbitrary justifications for sanctions, the literature featured quotes from two ‘claimants’ — including one docked benefits after she failed to produce a CV:

The pictures look to be DWP’s own stock photos. Scrapbook has found the same picture of “Sarah” on a Universal Credit website — cast, ironically enough, not as lazy dole-dossing scum but a dynamic jobseeker “standing out from the crowd”:

The news comes after DWP were accused of planting fake tweets praising the beleaguered Universal Credit scheme:

This doesn't look at all like the DWP trying to plant fake tweets and getting the wrong account. Nope. pic.twitter.com/Bw7Mj3setT — Latent Ella (@latentexistence) October 27, 2014

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