It’s not just that. Once upon a time I was an eligibility worker. The ‘clients’ as they’re called know the rules as well as any EW and also know all the loopholes. They all tend to live in the same areas so their knowledge about the system gets passed around pretty fast.
The welfare secretary in our office quit just short of retirement because she couldn’t stand it that the “clients” (such a nice warm fuzzy term) were getting more in perks than her salary.