Fraudulent sick pay claims

Johanna McLean, who went off work with back pain, continued to go to her second job — raking in £14,000 in sick pay. The fiscal depute told the court:

The accused was employed by West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) as a day care assistant in Old Kilpatrick.

WDC is part of the National Fraud Initiative which is used to try to detect fraud cases.

As a result of this initiative the accused was noted to also be employed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, working thirty-three-hours per week with them.

Enquiries were carried out and it was found that this lady held two jobs but her level of sickness absence [with WDC] was high because she could not be in two places at one time.

When the matter came to light she was spoken to by police and she made full and frank admissions about what she had been doing.”

Her lawyer said that the council is now going to recoup the money in full by claiming it back through Ms McLean’s pension fund. But the Sheriff deferred sentence to clarify if WDC will definitely be reimbursed with all its money.

htp Dave