A former Jobcentre worker has told an employment tribunal his contract was not extended because he tried to protect taxpayers’ money.

Richard Constable, of Menston, claims he was told to allow unemployed people to receive benefits even when he felt they were not entitled to them.

He is claiming unfair dismissal against the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after leaving his job at the Eastgate Jobcentre in Leeds in March, 2009.

Stefan Brochwicz Lewinski, representing the DWP, denied the claims and told the hearing in Leeds Mr Constable did not have his contract renewed for a variety of reasons, including poor performance, complaints from customers, poor timekeeping and a poor attendance record.

Mr Constable, representing himself, told the tribunal he was “trying to protect the public purse” by not handing out benefits to people who did not comply with the rules after he had assessed them.

However, he said that he was encouraged to simply sign benefits over to jobseekers after customers made complaints against him. And he alleged one of his managers, Susan Green, had a grudge against him because of his previous work background.

Mr Constable said he felt he was never going to get a permanent contract because of “little comments she made towards me and her attitude towards me”.

Mr Lewinski asked Mr Constable if it was his case that Mrs Green had forced him to do something against the law in signing benefits to people he felt did not comply with jobseekers’ agreements.

Mr Constable admitted keeping a notebook of incidents and comments about Mrs Green and her work, in a locked drawer in his work desk, which was discovered by his manager.

But Mr Lewinski said there were other reasons why Mr Constable was not offered a contract extension, including a series of complaints from customers that he had a bad attitude with them.

He said one jobseeker, who said they had not been keeping a job diary because of their poor English, was told they “should be writing English as we are in England” – a claim denied by Mr Constable.

Mr Lewinski also produced evidence of Mr Constable’s timekeeping, attendance record and performance which did not see him manage to deal with the target number of customers in a day.

He said Mr Constable “had it in” for Mrs Green and not the other way around. He also asked Mr Constable if he had a problem with jobseekers.

“No, that’s inappropriate and incorrect,” Mr Constable said. “I have been unemployed and I know what it’s like.”

The tribunal continues.