Prison Service under fire after paying job applicant up to £20,000 despite his never working there

'I would like to know how this has happened because as a taxpayer myself I don't want to know that my money has been wasted'

Nottingham Prison was branded 'dangerous' by the Prisons Inspector (PA)

Questions have been raised about the Prison Service's use of taxpayers' money after a jail that was put on notice to improve paid at least £15,000 in wages to a man who has never worked there.

Justice chiefs have apologised for the blunder involving an applicant who was offered a job as an officer but who never took it up.

The man, now 28, believes the error reflects “severe mismanagement of the system” at Nottingham prison, which has been described by the Chief Inspector of Prisons as in a “dangerous state”.

He had been due to start his training in December 2016, leaving his job with a pub chain, but deferred it because his wife was ill. However, he received about £700 at the end of that month, which he said he assumed was for two weeks' wages.

Since then he has been paid between £1,200 and £1,600 at the end of every month, the BBC reported. Over a year, the total amounts to between £15,100 and £19,900.

The would-be prison officer said: “What situation is Nottingham Prison in that they don't even know that somebody who is not working for them is still being paid? If I'm the only person it's still going to have cost them 20-odd thousand pounds a year [before tax] - but are there potentially more people?

“I would like to know how this has happened because as a taxpayer myself I don't want to know that my money has been wasted. I think they were advertising about £21,000 or £22,000 a year at that point, so I presume after tax contributions that's what the outcome was."

Earlier this month the Chief Inspector of Prisons issued Justice Secretary David Gauke with an “urgent notification letter” demanding action to improve Nottingham prison within 28 days. Eight inmates are believed to have killed themselves there in the past two years.

The pub worker says he emailed the prison to tell them he was not an employee and decided to stay in his job with the pub chain after learning of the problems at the prison.

The BBC reported that an email from the prison's “people hub” manager alerted the Ministry of Justice to the error in March last year.

The man says the extra salary has given him tax problems and he now fears being accused of “committing fraud or something”.

The Prison Service said it would sort it out and promised to learn from the blunder. “We apologise for this error and for the inconvenience caused,” it said in a statement. We are working to stop this from happening again, and will look at any lessons that can be learned.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman blamed a "clerical error" and said it was an isolated case.