Four more people have been charged over alleged fraud at welfare-to-work company A4E, prosecutors said yesterday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said three women and two men are accused of one count of conspiracy to make false instruments.

One of them, Ines Cano-Uribe, was already among nine A4E employees charged with fraud in September over alleged bogus claims for government Work Programme contracts.

Jaswant Narwal of the CPS said it is alleged that A4E employees Ms Cano-Uribe, Sarah Hawkins, Serge Wyett, Matthew Hannigan Train and Hayley Wilson conspired to forge documents in a bid to convince Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) auditors that certain claims for payment were genuine.

The five will appear before Slough magistrates' court on January 6.

A4E chief Andrew Dutton said: "The most recent charges all relate to an ongoing investigation by the Thames Valley Police into a small group of employees and a historic contract which ended in July 2011."

He said an internal probe had uncovered the alleged incident. A4E then told the DWP, who told the police.

"Throughout the investigation, we have fully co-operated with the police," he said.

Mr Dutton insisted that government audits "found no evidence of fraud - systemic, attempted or otherwise."

He said A4E had reviewed its contracts and had implemented the recommendations of independent auditors.

"We are unable to comment further on the allegations until the legal case has been completed."

A4E has been handed more than £200 million of public money under the discredited Work Programme.

The Con-Dem scheme involves private companies being paid to help the long-term unemployed find work but it has proved an expensive failure.