969 people cut off unemployment register for trying to abuse the system

A total of 969 people were cut off the unemployment register last year after it was found that they were abusing of unemployment benefits.

Data tabled in Parliament shows that these people had either been found to be working while registering as unemployed or had refused job offers and training schemes.

The information, tabled by employment minister Evarist Bartolo in response to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Therese Comodini Cachia, shows that the number of people struck off the unemployment register because they were caught trying to abuse the system spiked in recent years.

Only 250 such abusers were struck off the register in 2013, but it more than doubled to 525 cases in 2014 and shot up to 990 cases in 2015.

A total of 10,159 people were struck off JobsPlus’ unemployment register last year – the majority of whom had either found a job or stopped registering out of their own free will.