More blue badge fraud in Enfield

Murat Hassa, from Bayswater, is wanted by police for allegedly misusing a blue badge while driving a mini-cab in Palmers Green. He failed to answer a summons to Enfield Magistrates on December 17 for the offence and a warrant for his arrest.

Since October, we are told, 14 people have been prosecuted for blue badge fraud in Enfield. Three more people were fined on December 17 for using them when the owner, usually a family member, was not present.

Nick Charalambous pleaded guilty to using his father in law’s badge at Devonshire Avenue. He was fined £200 with £410 costs.

Kaya Ciftci pleaded not guilty to using his mother in law’s badge at Crown Lane, when his mother in law was not present. He was convicted and fined £250 with costs of £340.

Andreas Diplos pleaded not guilty to using his father’s badge to park outside his own home on September 10. He was convicted and fined £187.50 with costs of £250.

Environment Councillor Terry Neville said:

Our offensive against blue badge cheats will continue in the New Year.

There will be no let up in our determination to ensure genuine disabled drivers have easy access in Enfield’s car parks.

We don't see so many prosecutions for blue badge fraud reported by other local authorities. And it's good to see magistrates imposing meaningful amounts in costs, which presumably help to fund the local campaign.

Smaller benefit frauds roundup

A big concern is the sheer number of benefit frauds, which enforcement officers will never keep up with. Some examples from December:

• Stephen Ellis from Altrincham failed to declare that he lived with his partner and had an occupational pension. He falsely obtained £4,050. He was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 250 hours unpaid work and was ordered to pay £150 costs.
  
  
• Donna Whittingham from Chorley withdrew her benefit claims on the same day a council visiting officer called unannounced at her home in February 2009 to check her claim was in order. That investigation revealed she had been living with her partner for nearly a year, while obtaining over £4,000 in benefits on the basis that she was a single parent. Magistrates gave her credit for her early guilty plea, and just fined her a paltry £65 plus a £15 victim surcharge. We are told "steps are now being taken to recover the overpayment in full".
  
  
• Kevin Banham, from Norbreck, failed to disclose he was working, and illegally obtained £922 in housing benefits. He got away with a fine of £120 with £120 costs and a £15 victims' surcharge even though he had a previous conviction when he failed to declare his wife was working.

These offenders are not really being punished.

htp Dave

No compensation order for £10k benefit thief in work

Karen Jones, from Weston Rhyn, admitted two charges of failing to notify a change of circumstances which led to her working while falsely claiming £10,356 in income support over a period of three years.

She had jobs which would have affected her entitlement to income support. She had legitimately claimed benefit in 2003 but later failed to notify them that she had obtained work. The first offence was between December 2005 and November 2007, and the second between January 2008 and December the same year.

She said that her eldest son, now 23, had got into trouble with drugs and, as well as stealing from the home, had bullied her. He had since left the area and she had not seen him for two years. Her second son was autistic and needed a lot of attention. She could just not see a way out or her dilemma and last year she had left the family home.

She had obtained a good job as a planning administrator with a local company.

Magistrates gave Jones a community order for 12 months during which she will perform 200-hours of unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £75 prosecution costs.

The DWP had not applied to the court for compensation and magistrates said it was a matter between Jones and the department.

Czech immigrant was benefit thief

A Wisbech resident who claimed more than £7,000 in Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit has been found guilty of fraud following a trial lasting a day and a half at Wisbech Magistrates Court.

Fenland District Council investigators found that her husband was living with her throughout the period of her claim despite declaring herself as a single parent.

Zdenka Kanalosova came to the UK around April 2007. Her husband, Juraj Kanalos, had arrived from the Czech Republic just a few months earlier seeking to find work and a home for them to settle in.

It was claimed in court that they separated after only a few weeks living in the UK although no verifiable address could be provided for him. In December 2007, Mrs Kanalosova moved to Grosvenor Road as a private tenant and successfully claimed Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit from the council, saying she was a single parent.

In late 2008 Council investigators acted upon a tip-off which suggested that Mrs Kanalosova was still living with her husband. They uncovered a number of links between Mr Kanalos and the Grosvenor Road address, including his banking details, loan applications, his car and his employment details. In addition, an undercover surveillance operation carried out between February and March this year showed Mr Kanalos coming and going from the property at all times of day and night.

In delivering the guilty verdict, the magistrates referred to the "overwhelming" prosecution evidence, the "inconsistent" account given by Mrs Kanalosova and the "evasive" nature of her husband in giving evidence.

The case was adjourned to January 15 for sentencing. Magistrates warned Mrs Kanalosova that all options were being considered, including a custodial sentence.

Benefit thief didn't reveal inheritance

A woman who failed to tell authorities about an inheritance of £17,000 has got away with a community order.

Kelly Morris, of Fulbeck, Widnes, admitted dishonestly failing to promptly notify the council of a change in circumstances and received a 12-month community order with a requirement to undertake 50 hours’ unpaid work.

She must also pay a contribution of £100 towards the council’s costs and repay the overpayment of benefit to the council.

The court heard Morris’s claim for housing and council tax benefit should be cancelled between 2002 and 2004. This resulted in an overpayment of housing benefit of £5,071 and a council tax benefit overpayment of £885.

Benefit thief may have to be rehoused at our expense

A council owed £31,000 by a benefit cheat may be forced to re-house her if she becomes homeless to raise the cash.

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Light sentence for £19k benefit fraud

Michelle Cooper, from Basingstoke, received £19,009 over seven years after telling officials her partner did not live with her and her three children.

Her deception was exposed when investigators saw she had written on her Facebook page that they had in fact lived together for 10 years.

Magistrate David Nattrass told Cooper that he was satisfied that the offence was so serious the only suitable sentence was custody. He jailed her for 13 weeks but suspended the sentence for 18 months. Cooper was also ordered to do 250 hours unpaid work, pay costs of £389, as well as pay back the money she had fraudulently obtained.

"The reason I have suspended the sentence is that you are a first time offender, you delivered an early guilty plea and because of the impact on your children," said Mr Nattrass. First time offender? She had been offending for seven years!

More


htp Dave

Conditional discharge for another benefit thief

Yet another benefit thief effectively unpunished. Katie Collins has appeared before Redditch Magistrates charged with fraudulently claiming £5,879 of benefits.

Collins had been receiving Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Income Support totalling between February 2008 and November 2008 but failing to declare that she was living with her partner.

After hearing the details of the offences and taking her early guilty plea into consideration, the magistrates sentenced Miss Collins to a six-month conditional discharge.

She was also ordered to repay the outstanding Income Support of £2,416.30 through a compensation order.

Extraordinarily, compensation was not requested for the outstanding Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit because Redditch Borough Council was satisfied that it could recoup the debt sooner in this case by using its own methods of recovery.

htp Dave

• Is benefit theft not a crime? Should it not be punished?
  

No punishment for benefit thief

A man who conned £2,644 through illegitimate benefits has been prosecuted.

Tony Luckett, from Filkins, was caught after he failed to report changes in his circumstances while he claimed housing and council tax benefits.

He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £75.

West Oxfordshire District Council will seek to recover the outstanding amount of benefits fraudulently obtained.

They don't need fraud

"Meet the mum and dad with an incredible FOURTEEN kids who prove Britain's benefits system has gone bonkers - showering them with a whopping tax-free £36,847 a year in handouts", invites The News of the World.

Iain Duncan Smith's review concentrated on simplifying the benefits system and smoothing marginal tax rates so as not to discourage people from going back to work because they could keep so little of what they earned.

But any reform also has to address scandals like this family.

Suspended sentence for ill £23k benefit thief

Susan Humphreys, from Grays, has been giving a suspended sentence for claiming more than £23,000 in benefits.

When her husband returned to work in July 2007, he trusted her to post a letter to the council and the DWP telling them of the change in their circumstances.

She did not post the letter and continued to receive benefits, deceiving her husband into believing he was paying the rent and council tax on their property.

In November 2007, Humphreys had to renew her claim for Housing and Council Tax Benefit. She completed the form saying that neither she nor her husband were working and had forged his signature.

After hearing in mitigation that Humphreys was suffering from a form of bone cancer and had a young daughter for whom she had sole care, the Magistrates suspended her two six-month jail sentences for a year and imposed a 12 month probation supervision order, during which time she has to undertake a basic skills assessment.

She was also ordered to pay £500 towards the cost of the investigation and prosecution. Humphreys was warned that, if she failed to comply with the probation order, the custodial sentence was likely to take effect.

The overpaid benefit will also have to be repaid.

Scaffolder claimed incapacity benefit

John Howard from Middesborough worked as an offshore scaffolder while he also received more than £11,000 in Incapacity Benefits for four-and-a-half years.

He walked free from court after a judge heard he had landed a lucrative two-year contract on rigs that meant he could quickly repay the money.

The debt will not be settled, however, until the spring because prosecutors have begun confiscation proceedings which will result in further court cases.

Howard, who admitted obtaining property by deception, was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

More

Single person discount crackdown at York

York's city leaders have collected nearly quarter of a million pounds extra in council tax after a crackdown on incorrect claims, reports The Press.

A review of people claiming the single person discount on their tax resulted in £237,000 extra income for the council.

The review matched claimants’ records with credit references, to check claims were correct.

NOTE: posting will resume after the Christmas break.

Suspended sentence for £10k benefit fraud

A benefit thief has received an eight-month suspended sentence after claiming £10,115 in housing benefit and council tax.

Monique Astruc was found guilty on six counts of making false representation to the Royal Borough while living in Maidenhead, and received a jail sentence of eight months for each of the counts, to be served concurrently. The sentence was suspended for 24 months and a 12-month supervision order imposed. She was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards the costs of the prosecution, within 12 months.

She had failed to declare a member of her household as resident, and produced false tenancy documents while claiming housing and council tax benefit based on a low income.

Lead member for finance, Cllr Richard Kellaway said: "This was an intentional effort to defraud the taxpayer by providing information that was proved in court to be false, and the council will not hesitate to take action against anyone in these circumstances."

French wastrel took benefits fraudulently

An French woman in Ashford has been ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work and pay over £1,000 in costs, Ashford Council announce, after she was found to have dishonestly claimed over £7,000 in benefits from Ashford Borough Council between 2004 and 2009 without telling the authorities that she been working since December 2004.

She arrived in the UK from France in 2004 and said she thought that because she was working for a French company she did not have to declare her earnings. However, the court heard that Miss Ndiaye was made aware as far back as 2006 that she should be declaring her income.
Despite this knowledge Miss Ndiaye continued to make declarations stating she had only Child Benefit and Tax Credits to live on and finally responded to the council’s repeated attempts to review her situation when her benefits were suspended.

When Miss Ndiaye came to the council offices to review her benefit claims she told officers that she had only been working for a year when in fact she had been in paid employment since 2004.

When summing up, the magistrate said that Miss Ndiaye will need to address her priorities to repay the monies owed after it was revealed she was spending £75 per month on television expenses and drinking as well as running up a very high telephone bill.

£30k benefits thief gets off lightly

A mother who claimed £30,934 in disability handouts after saying she was too frail to get out of bed was filmed working a 48-hour week running a team of cleaners.

Christine Whittle-Morley - who has a previous conviction for theft from an employer - received benefits to pay for round-the-clock care after saying her mobility was so restricted she needed help getting dressed and washing herself.

But the mother-of-two, who also claimed it took her 30minutes to walk 14metres, had actually been working a 48-hour week for six years as a team leader for a cleaning company at up to 45 different sites.

Benefits investigators acting on a tip-off used CCTV cameras at St Helens shopping centre in Merseyside to film her using vacuum cleaners and walking over a mile a day as she swept corridors and provided training for other staff.

She had at first legitimately secured the highest rate of disability living allowance in the 1990s after claiming on her forms she was in 'severe pain'. She said she had to to be accompanied outside her home in case she fell over and that she used a walking stick at all times. She also declared she needed 24-hour personal care as she needed help with getting out of bed, dressing, bathing, using the toilet and moving around indoors.She later claimed income support and incapacity benefit for herself and her daughter on the grounds she was unfit for work.

But she was exposed as fake last year when a tip-off revealed she had been working for the cleaning company since 2002. She had never told her employers about her alleged disabilities yet worked at a string of business premises.

She got off lightly. She was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 80hours unpaid work. She will also be electronically tagged and given a curfew for the next two months which means she must be at her home address between 7pm and 7am.

£8.9k benefit fraud unpunished

John Jenner from Swanley submitted four claim forms between October 2003 and March 2009 on which he failed to declare he had been receiving industrial injuries benefit since 1991.

He was given a 12-month conditional discharge at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to benefit fraud totalling £8,900.

Jenner was also told the money he had falsely claimed will be deducted from benefits he is currently entitled to.

•  Effectively he goes unpunished.
  
  These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them. Deterrence is important.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Theresa May, please note. Some local authorities think benefit fraud costs each household £80-£100 a year. It's probably nearer £150-£175.

Fines and costs make a meaningful sentence

Raymond Wood, from Pellon, Halifax, has admitted dishonestly obtaining £4,756 from the DWP over the last three years, as well as a reduction in his council tax, by lying about his savings.

He has paid back the cash and was ordered to pay another £3,055 in fines and costs by Calderdale magistrates.

• We don't know how much he stole (the council tax reduction was in addition to the £4,756), but the magistrates have opted to impose fines and costs which look very substantial in relation to the amount he took. A meaningful penalty.
  

Guide to claiming for incapacity

"Bogus incapacity benefit claimants can cheat their way into higher state handouts thanks to a step-by-step guide to beating Labour’s new fitness test", claims the Sunday Express.

A consumer website called Benefits and Work offers a guide on how to convince doctors you are too sick to work for a living.

Tips are given on how to qualify on both physical and mental health grounds for Employment and Support Allowance which over time gives claimants £25.50 more each week than Jobseekers’ Allowance.

The website brands Labour’s work capability tests the “worst and most complex assessment procedure we have ever encountered” but promises that the guide will “allow you to make an effective claim in spite of the system set up by the Department of Work and Pensions”.

Tips include how to answer questions by the assessor on your favourite television programmes.

“If you say you watch films, for example, the doctor may assume you can sit for at least 90 minutes. So make sure, even if you are not asked, that you tell your doctor you have to get up during programmes...”

Claimants are also advised to tell their doctor that sitting in the waiting room chair was too painful for a long period.

Jail for £37k benefit fraud

Stephen Bishop, from Codsall, took £37,000 in income support, claiming he was a single parent.

But following a tip-off, an investigation found he was living with a partner and working as a mechanic.

Bishop was sentenced to 18 weeks in custody. He will also have to repay the money.

Croydon benefit thief gets suspended sentence

Karen Balogun, 25, was given a four month custodial sentence for benefit fraud, suspended for 12 months, plus 150 hours community work, report Croydon Council. We're not told how much was involved.

The investigation began in 2008. Officials found that she had not declared that she was married when claiming for council tax and housing benefits. She was also found to have been making extra claims for a child who had died.

They were alerted by the council's student support services after she gave inconsistent information to support a student loan application.

The court heard how Mrs Balogun (nee Lakidi) married Olanrewaju Balogun in Nigeria in 2005, but he had been refused entry to the UK. However, the Home Office received information that he was back in the country working as an electrician in central London.

During interviews Mrs Balogun claimed that the man living with her in a flat, in London Road, was a new boyfriend who happened to have the same name as her husband. She also claimed that the name on her children's birth certificates was her also her boyfriend's.

Last year immigration officers visited her new address in Bromley and discovered her husband living there. He subsequently left the country in November 2008.

Mrs Balogun told the court she was doing a nursing course and was hoping to go to university in January. She also stated she was intending to divorce her husband.

She said the reason for claiming for her child two months after he had died was due to the distress she was under at the time having had to agree to switch off his life support machine on medical advice.

On deciding sentence Judge Daniel Flahive said he had considered an immediate custodial sentence for stealing money from the public purse and failure to comply with a previous community order but took into account her guilty plea and the fact that she had two young children.

Councillor Sara Bashford, cabinet member for resources and customer services, said: "It has never been more important for councils to fight fraud. Every year hundreds of thousands of pounds are lost to benefit cheats who are depriving those who really need the help by diverting funds into their own pockets.

"All too often people think that they can cheat the system and nobody will notice but as this and the dozens of other successful prosecutions in Croydon show, you will be found out. Not only will you then have a criminal record you will have to pay back all the money dishonestly claimed."

Jail for £60k benefit fraud

A BENEFIT thief who stole more than £60,000 over ten years has been jailed for eight months.

Malcolm Swann, 62, from Gun Hill, near Nuneaton, even hid what he was doing from his wife, who has now been lumbered with a re-mortgage he took out to repay the debt.

He began using a false national insurance number in 1999 to claim around £500 a month in incapacity benefit and council tax payments. His deceit was only uncovered in January this year during a routine check by the DWP.

Recorder Farrell said:

Your claims continued until you were caught. If not, no doubt you would still be claiming. The claiming of false benefits is all too easy. It's easy to do and difficult to detect. A message has to go out that those who do so will be punished. Why did you do it? Greed. To pay for a better standard of living. This offence is so serious that a community sentence cannot be justified, nor can I suspend the sentence.

In mitigation, the court heard Swann, who has battled bladder cancer for the past five years, claimed the money to "top up" his wages as a fork-lift truck driver. He was a man of previous good character who had repaid the debt in full by re-mortgaging the family home.

Jail for £85k benefit thief

Mr Ahmed Sharif Mohamed claimed housing benefit at Royal College Street, totalling £24,000, Camden Council announce.

He used another identity in the name of Mr Mohamed Sharif Ahmed to claim housing benefit at Brecknock Road, totalling over £41,000.

He also used these identities to claim £20,000 in Income Support to which he was not entitled.

Under a joint investigation between benefit investigators at Camden Council and the DWP, he was arrested at a property in Islington. When the police, Camden Council and DWP benefit investigation officers visited the Royal College Street property it was found to be sublet.

Mr Mohamed was charged with 19 counts of fraud. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. He has handed in the keys to the Royal College Street flat, a Council-owned property, and has been asked to pay back the money.

• These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud should have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Theresa May, please note. Taxpayers lose around £3.5bn a year to benefit fraud.

Another blue badge sweep in Hendon

Residents of a Hendon road have praised anti-fraud officers from Barnet Council for a second clampdown in their street within a month on the misuse of blue badges.

Eight blue badges were seized in Babington Road and St Mary's Crescent in a successful joint operation with Barnet Police which also netted two arrests in relation to stolen badges and seven fixed penalty notices. Another fixed penalty notice was handed out by the police to a driver using a mobile phone.

A further car was towed away because the person misusing the blue badge only held a provisional driving licence.

The initiative followed a similar operation at the start of November prompted by complaints from local residents. One of the Babington Road residents, William Doherty, said:

There has been an ongoing problem with blue badges in the area for several years. I am pleased that something is being done about it now.

My elderly wife is disabled and we often have problems parking near our house.

Councillor Daniel Thomas, Cabinet Member for Policy and Performance, said: "We returned to Babington Road last week to send the message to those fraudulently using blue badges that we are not paying lip-service to this issue. Barnet Council is committed to working with residents and the police to stamp out illegal and inconsiderate behaviour. It's what our residents expect of us. I extend this message to anyone else in the borough misusing blue badges - it is wrong and we will find you."

Jail for £45k benefits thief

A Blackburn woman who claimed to be a single parent while living with her husband has been jailed for 16 months for benefit fraud.

Tammy Whittle falsely claimed over £45,000 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support by deliberately not including her husband Lee’s details on the claim forms.

Burnley Crown court heard that it was Whittle’s second conviction for benefit fraud. In August last year she was convicted of falsely claiming benefits by failing to declare her income from employment.

Whittle, of Billinge Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraudulently obtaining housing and council tax benefit and two of falsely claiming income support.

The court heard that Whittle told the Council she lived at the address as a lone parent. Fraud investigators, however, found Lee Whittle was using the address as his own.

When questioned, Tammy Whittle admitted he was her husband and had lived there with her since 1998. She also admitted intentionally failing to declare him on claim forms. Lee Whittle was working as a taxi driver at the time and his wife was overpaid £21,428 in housing and council tax benefit and £24,198 in income support.

The court heard that Tammy Whittle would have been entitled to over £22,000 in tax credits had she claimed those correctly at the time.

Tamworth benefit thief in court

Julie Brighouse failed to declare she was living with her partner for seven months and she claimed as a single person all that time.

The total overpayment was £5,329. Mrs Brighouse was given a community order for 100 hours unpaid work, ordered to pay the £5,329 back as well as the £725 costs.

Councillor Robert Pritchard, portfolio holder for Corporate Governance said: “As you can see the difference over seven months is a considerable amount of money which should have gone to someone who really needed it.”

Slow pursuit of benefit cheat leads to not much

Nicola Tilley, who pleaded guilty to cheating Bedford Borough Council out of £13,273 in benefits, has been given a four month curfew and ordered to pay the money back.

She claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit as a lone parent, but suspicions were raised after an anonymous tip-off from a member. A joint investigation by Bedford Borough Council and the DWP began in May 2007.

Investigators obtained evidence from official records including bank accounts, NHS records, employers and schools to prove that Tilley's husband, Christopher Tilley, was living with her between January 2006 and January 2007, when she falsely claimed £13,273 in benefits. The case has just been heard.

Council worker was blue badge cheat

A Rochdale Council worker stole a dead person's blue disabled driver badge before using it to park for free.

Choudhury Mohammed Shahran used his position in the council's customer services department at the ‘black box’ to steal the disabled parking permit when it was returned after the owner died.

He was caught out after the council received an anonymous tip-off in November 2008 and launched an investigation.

He was also caught using a blue badge belonging to his father-in-law.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a disabled permit in connection with fraud and fraud by way of false representation at Rochdale Magistrates Court and was given 240 hours community service and ordered to pay £400 costs.

More

Housing benefit lunacy

A year after the Government vowed to crack down on housing benefits, reports the Mail, a single mother of eight is still living in a £2.6million mansion funded by taxpayers.

Francesca Walker receives more than £90,000 a year in housing allowance to meet the rent on the five-bedroom villa, plus other payouts of £15,000.

Read more

More low income benefits families on 90% tax

The number of families facing tax rates of more than 90% has doubled in the last year as a result of Labour's bloated benefits system, reports the Mail. This can only encourage people to stay on benefits or commit benefit fraud.

Figures buried in last week's Pre-Budget Report reveal 60,000 low-income families now face paying 90 per cent of any earnings directly to the taxman.

The number of affected families is up from 30,000 last year and is forecast to rise again to 70,000 next year.

Single parents on income support, for instance, have their benefits cut pound for pound on any earnings over £20 a week.

More than 300,000 families now face marginal tax rates of more than 70%, up from 200,000 last year. And almost two million families face tax rates of over 60%.

Post employee said he couldn't walk

Benefit thief Amran Abu from Handsworth claimed incapacity benefit and disability allowance worth £8,000 on the basis that he was unable to work, and had no other source of income.

He claimed that he was unsteady on his feet, unable to stand for long periods of time, easily fell over and was only able to walk a distance of 200m in 30 minutes with the use of crutches or a walking frame. But CCTV footage of him working an arduous shift at Royal Mail’s Birmingham Mail Centre exposed his claims as a complete sham.

Abu was sentenced to an 18-month community order, to include 200 hours unpaid work and £120 costs. He will also have to pay back all the money he defrauded.

Conditional discharges for York benefit thieves

Sharon Louise Wheatley received housing and council tax benefits from City of York Council for 17 months despite having found work as a self-employed parcel carrier, which resulted in her being overpaid £5,210.

Michael Moran continued to cash weekly cheques for housing benefit for a year – a £2,750 overpayment – after securing a job.

They were merely given 24-month conditional discharges and ordered to pay back the money they should not have received.

• There is no penalty element here at all. 'Don't do it again and please give us the money back.' The Council must be disappointed. What's the deterrent?
  
  These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Theresa May, please note. Some local authorities think benefit fraud costs each household £80-£100 a year. It's probably nearer £150-£175.

Light sentence for £40k benefit thief - no jail, no work

A FORMER hospital worker who fiddled £40,000 in benefits has been ordered to wear an electronic tag.

Fawzia Abdultif, from Didsbury, dishonestly claimed income support for 10 years while working as an interpreter at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

At Manchester Crown Court she was given a 50-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months. She has also been placed under curfew arrest from 7pm to 7am for three months enforced by an electronic tag.

After divorcing her doctor husband in 1996, Abdultif, who is originally from Iraq, got the hospital job. In 1998 she applied for income support claiming she did not work, had no savings and no property.

The following year she completed a form as part of a benefits review in which she repeated the false claims and pretended not to have a bank account. In reality, she had a Natwest account which she used to receive her wages.

Months later Abdultif set up another account with Barclays to bank her income support payments before going on to dishonestly claim housing and council tax benefit as well. She also racked up pension credits she was not entitled to before she was finally caught in 2008.

She used different spellings of her names in the scam and the court heard the full extent of it will probably never be known because some of the records no longer exist.

An interpreter translated the proceedings for Abdultif, who had not only worked as an translator herself, but had been employed as an English teacher in Iraq.

htp: Nigel for pointing out that a woman who left eight cats to die has been jailed - for 16 weeks.

Frauds in Peterborough

Asif Khan filled in details pretending to be his mother in order to claim council tax benefits of £3,587.

However, he was actually the owner of the house. The court told Mr Khan to pay compensation of £1,624.12, plus £70 in costs, as well as to complete 120 hours of unpaid work within the next year.

Separately, the owner of one of Peterborough's biggest cab firms has been clocked by the courts for using his dead father's blue badge permit to park in a disabled bay in the city centre. Muzaffar Hassan was ordered to pay a fine of £500 and £414 court costs.

He was caught after displaying the badge, which is meant for use by severely disabled people who are unable or find it difficult to use public transport, in his car while parking in a disabled bay in Cattle Market Road in the city centre on July 28.

A Peterborough City Council civil enforcement officer had spotted Hassan sitting in his parked car, which had a private hire plate on it. The officer noticed that the Blue Badge had expired on February 15 and was on display on the dashboard.

After the officer examined the badge further, Hassan told him that it belonged to his father, Muhammed Zakria, who was in the market shopping and claimed not to know it had expired. But after initially maintaining that his father was in the market, Hassan eventually admitted that he was dead and the council's taxi enforcement team identified him as the driver.

When he was interviewed under caution at Peterborough Town Hall, he admitted being the driver of the vehicle on that date and said he had just dropped off a fare when he was spotted by the officer. Hassan agreed during this interview that the badge was his father's but disputed the misuse of it and denied saying that his father had been in the market. But he was also unable to provide an explanation as to why the blue badge was on the dashboard of his car while he was parked in a disabled bay.

Hassan did not attend court, but in his absence the hearing was told that the badge had been issued to Muhammed Zakria and expired on February 15. It had been deregistered in April 2008 after the council was notified that Mr Zakria had died but the badge was not returned.

Jail for £44k benefit fraud

Samantha Mary McGrath, who used to live in Leominster but moved to Birmingham, has been jailed for five months after admitting 10 counts of benefit fraud totalling £44,765.

McGrath failed to say she was married in May 2003. The council also claimed that in September 2005 she failed to declare she was in receipt of a nursing bursary and that she was employed in August 2006.

McGrath received £21,604 in income support, £19,335 in housing benefit and £3,825 in council tax benefit that she was not entitled to and that will have to be paid back.

Judge John Cavell said she knowingly failed to notify her changes in circumstances.

Conditional discharge for £9k benefit fraud

A BENEFIT cheat has appeared in court after claiming £8,900 he was not entitled to.

John Jenner, from Swanley, was given a 12-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to four counts of benefit fraud.

The court heard the 58-year-old submitted four claim forms between October 2003 and March 2009 on which he failed to declare he had been receiving industrial injuries benefit since 1991.

Sevenoaks District Council discovered Jenner’s fraud during a routine investigation of claims.

Jenner was also told the money he had falsely claimed will be deducted from benefits he is currently entitled to.

• No real punishment for this deliberate long term fraud.
  

Mother jailed for £32k benefit fraud

A Black Country mother who pocketed more than £32,000 in benefits despite having two homes and more than £150,000 in savings has been jailed for nine months.

Mary Davies from Tipton started with a legitimate claim for council tax and housing benefits. But she failed to tell the DWP when she [somehow] acquired a house and flat in the area and had savings in the bank.

She claimed £28,783 in housing benefits and £3,677 in council tax relief between March 2001 and April 2006, when she was rumbled.

The court also heard how she had £111,000 in one bank account and £38,000 in another. Mr Challinor said Davies also had a third joint account she shared with her landlord which contained around £15,000.

After her arrest, she told investigators she could not afford to pay the rent because she was on a low income.

Judge Martin Walsh said it was clear Davies had “accumulated a significant amount of money which was kept hidden. You were dishonest for a considerable period of time and only immediate custody is justified,” he said.

Miss Siobhan Collins, defending, said the defendant was a woman of previous good character. She had now sold the two properties in a bid to get her life back on track and repay her debts. She said Davies accepted that she deserved to go to prison.

She will face confiscation proceedings on her ill-gotten gains on a date to be fixed.

htp Dave

More benefit fraud found in S Somerset

A pensioner who failed to declare he was working is being made to repay over £3,800 to council taxpayers after fraudulently claiming council tax benefit over seven years.

An investigation undertaken by South Somerset District Council revealed that a 75-year-old Wincanton man had claimed £3,813 from April 2002 through to March 2009.

He failed to declare that he had been working for a coach company and had failed to declare his earnings.

Magistrates sentenced the man to 60 hours of unpaid work to be carried out over the next 12 months under a community punishment order.

Since the beginning of last year the three members of the council’s benefit fraud investigation team have clawed back over a quarter of a million pounds of fraudulently claimed benefits, with the figure amounting to nearly £600,000 over the past five years.

htp Dave

Surprise, surprise

Danielle Bardsley failed to attend court yesterday.

Who'd have thought it?

htp Dave

No jail for £40k tax credit fraud

Nicola Cooper from Arborfield admitted fraudulently claiming £40,546 in tax credits.

Judge John Reddihough handed her a sentence of 36 weeks, suspended for two years, and 180 hours of unpaid work. She has already repaid the money - how?

The court heard Cooper had claimed childcare allowance for her three children at a rate of £300 a week over four years. HMRC was able to show during this time she actually only paid between £650 and £850 a year to an approved childcare provider.


htp Dave

Council writes off housing benefit debts

Redbridge Council has written off over £40,000 in housing benefit debt after one suspected fraudster died and another fled the country.

Council papers show details of two cases that cabinet members agreed to write off.

Mr A owed £18,818.90 claimed at an address in Gants Hill.  He was investigated after failing to present a number of housing benefit cheques, and officers discovered he was also known by another name. He was prosecuted in 2006 for fraud, forced to pay £6,000 and had his assets frozen. In March 2007 he died after a car crash. His assets were sold, but because of mortgage arrears and charges owed on the property, it was sold without any equity being made available to the agency.

Mr W owed £25,028.80 claimed at an address in Chigwell. The DWP investigated as he was claiming Income Support as a single person, and discovered he was married and his wife was declared the owner of another property. More than £1,000 was repaid, but following the couple's divorce in 2007, Mr W emigrated to New Zealand. The house was sold but his ex-wife cannot be held responsible as she was never prosecuted or included on the claim form.

The DWP will cover more than £30,000 of the loss.

htp Dave

Burnley warns on housing benefit fraud

A report to be presented to the Audit Committee of Burnley Council says that the 10% increase in housing benefit cases could be linked to the economic downturn.

The report reads: ”If benefit fraud is not tackled effectively, the impact on the provision of public services is significant.

“The recent economic downturn has resulted in an increase in claimants, locally our caseload has increased from 10,967 in August 2008 to 11,846 in September 2009.

“It would seem reasonable to assume the number of potentially fraudulent claims has increased as a result.”

Melanie Poole, team leader of investigations team for revenue and benefits at Burnley Council, said: ”During the last three years we have seen a rise in the number of potential cases of fraud being investigated. It is safe to assume from this that the number of fraudulent claims has increased.

“There are a number of different reasons that could account for the rise including people being more aware of benefit claims, but as this is essentially a hidden crime it is hard to pinpoint the motives behind the people responsible.

“We are keen not to deter people from genuine claims, but we feel the need to give a warning that we have a zero tolerance policy on fraudulent claims.

“People who claim fraudulently can end up with a criminal record, a fine or even imprisonment.”

£59k benefit fraudster effectively gets off

A benefit fraudster from Wallington has escaped jail despite illegally claiming nearly £60,000 since 2003. Jane Amor was ludicrously told to pay back at least £100 a month for the next 50 years to settle the debt.

Judge John Anderson said:

I’m not going to send you to prison although this offence does cross the custody threshold. Understand this Miss Amor, you have come very close to prison.

Had the circumstances been different I would have had no difficulty imposing a more serious punishment.

I give you credit that this began as a legal claim until your co-habitee moved in but this was not a sophisticated operation, that is quite clear.

I’m quite satisfied that the chances of you reoffending again are slim.

What about deterring other people? This will only encourage them, you stupid judge.

The £59,000 figure quoted in court was a result of Miss Amor swindling £32,000 worth of income support, £21,000 in housing benefit and £6,000 in council tax.

Councillor Tim Crowley, Sutton Conservatives finance spokesman, said:

This woman has defrauded the hardworking Sutton taxpayer like a parasite for five years to the tune of nearly £60k.

Paying back £100 a month will not cover the taxpayers' cash she has sucked from the public purse.

I would have preferred a stiffer penalty to send out an unambiguous message to fraudsters and bogus benefit claimants: don't even think about it.

Some estimations show it costs British households £100 per year each, with the total UK cost thought to be near the £3.5billion mark.

Well said - we agree.

Miss Amor was handed a two-year supervision order and must complete 150 hours of unpaid community work. But the judge decided that pursuing further court costs of £350 would be fruitless.

Since April there have been 20 successful prosecutions locally resulting in the repayment of over £300,000 of public money.

Drug distributor was also benefit thief

A Greenwich businessman who used his parcel delivery service to send drugs around the country has been jailed for four years and ordered to pay £274,000.

The extent of Mark Gard's operation was uncovered as officers collected evidence suggesting he was not only illegally subletting his council house while claiming benefits, but that he also owned a number of properties in the UK and Spain.

More

Govt to use data better to combat fraud

What a good idea! Why didn't we think of it?

As part of its programme, the government intends to review its anti-fraud work. A taskforce is being set up to build data-analysis technology that will work between the Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs, which will then be extended to other government departments, a Cabinet Office spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Monday.

"The taskforce will seek to match data across government," said the spokesperson.

Benefit fraud probably costs us around £3.5bn a year, so this cautious tiptoeing into the late twentieth century should easily be cost effective if it is done at a reasonable price and actually works - but those are two big if's for government IT projects.

At least we could then move from reliance on claimants to tell different paying agencies when one benefit has changed which affects entitlement to another ... or relying on claimants to tell two or more agencies the same thing. It is just not fair to lay this burden on claimants when the technology is easily available.

Dartford magistrates give mixed messages

A woman who illegally claimed £22,251 in housing benefit has been given a suspended prison sentence after police received an anonymous tip-off.

Miss Helen Gallagher, from Gravesend, has had her 120 day prison sentence suspended for two years and was given a curfew, after pleading guilty to fraud at Dartford Magistrates Court.

Miss Gallagher, who failed to tell Gravesham Borough Council she was renting her home from the father of her child, must also re-pay the £22,251 she owes as well as £262 in court costs.

Cabinet Member for Transformation Cllr Adrian Warburton said: "Housing regulations state that if a tenant or child is related to their landlord they cannot receive housing benefit.

"Miss Gallagher has been caught and prosecuted thanks to yet another anonymous tip-off from a member of the public. We have received a 100% increase in tip-offs from our hotline which sends a clear message to benefit cheats that people are watching and will report them."

The court heard how Miss Gallagher submitted a false statement to Gravesham Borough Council in August 2005 through to June 2009 saying that her child was not related to her landlord in a bid to provide her child with a "good home". Information was then received from Gravesham Borough Council's hotline that her landlord was in fact the father of her child.

Magistrates said this was a very serious offence which has led to "public money being taken out of the public purse."

Jail for £13k benefit fraud

Dennis Kelly, from Slough, received more than £13,000 in fraudulently claimed benefit over a five year period and he repeatedly lied about the existence of bank accounts when completing benefit application and review forms.

Slough Borough Council's (SBC) investigation team discovered bank accounts belonging to Mr Kelly which contained more than £60,000 and successfully brought a prosecution.

Kelly pleaded guilty to multiple charges of dishonesty by making false statements and representations in order to claim housing benefit to which he was not entitled and was jailed for four months.

SBC's investigation team leader, Scott Warner, said: "We're committed to making sure that Slough tax payers are not ripped off by people like Mr Kelly and this custodial sentence sends out a clear message that we will not tolerate abuse of the system. Offenders will be found and brought to justice."

The case represents the 11th successful prosecution for the council's investigation team since April.

Mercy for £73k tax credit fraudster

A Liverpool mother who swindled more than £73,000 in tax credits was spared prison after the judge decided to show “compassion”.

From October 2003 to July 2007 Lauren Dennis lied to the authorities to claim a string of working tax credits.

She even claimed she was caring for her young son to receive the cash, when he was actually in foster care. She also claimed she was entitled to the benefits because of her disabilities and the amount and type of work, as well as to pay for child care.

But, despite the “huge amount” Dennis swindled, Judge John Phipps decided to show her mercy after learning of her difficult background.

He suspended a 51-week prison sentence for two years and placed Dennis, who admitted 12 charges of being knowingly concerned with fraudulent activity, under 18 months’ supervision.

More

£75k benefit thief jailed

Terence Cox, from Brentwood, who pocketed £75,000 in false claims over 12 years, has been jailed for nine months.

He failed to declare a £1,400-a-month company pension which would have made him ineligible for the hand-outs. He also failed to declare an £11,000 pay-out from former employers. He received the sum when a back injury he suffered at work forced him into early retirement.
He has legitimately claimed incapacity benefit since the injury in 1996, the court heard.

He was caught following an anonymous tip-off in January last year.

He said he did not declare his pension because it was from a private company and he believed it was “none of the Department for Work and Pensions’ business”.

He said he spent the benefits money on furnishing the council house he shares with his wife Julie and their children, who are aged 11 and 13.

Liam Walker, mitigating, said Cox and his wife had started to pay back the money since January. He said Cox’s work accident had forced his wife to be the family’s bread-winner and this had led him into depression and alcoholism. “The repayments are already causing immense hardship to Mr Cox and his family, and he is effectively in an open-debtors’ prison.”


Now he has the real thing.

Kids, but this benefit thief is still jailed

See, Judge Softhead Hammond, you can send criminals to prison even when they have children. Here's a Judge who did his job.


A father-of-ten – one of Bradford’s biggest benefits cheats – has been jailed for two years.

Abdul Majid cheated the taxpayer out of £83,025. The judge, Recorder David Wilby QC, said the message had to go out loud and clear that people cannot get away with fiddling the system.

Majid bought a house in Girlington, Bradford, for £18,700 in 2002 while living with his family in another road. He hid the fact he owned a second home from the DWP but investigators caught him working on the property in March 2007.

The court heard that Majid was carer for his wife and children, some of whom are disabled and need regular hospital treatment.  The Judge said he was fully aware of Majid’s personal circumstances and of the distress and problems a prison sentence would bring to his wife and children. “Perhaps you should have thought about it before you committed the offences,” he said.


More

An insanely useless benefit fraud sentence

This is the most scandalously light sentence of any I have recorded.  His Hon. Judge Softhead Hammond evidently thinks no mother of young children can be jailed, whatever she has done. What message does this send to other would be offenders?

A woman who created a false identity to milk over £70,000 from the benefits system has been spared jail - because she has children.

Leyla Yusuf, from Moss Side, posed as a penniless asylum seeker from Somalia in a scam to double the amount she received in state handouts. In reality, the mother-of-five has Dutch nationality and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle with property in Dubai.

She had been fiddling the taxpayer for seven years when she was caught by a sting earlier this year. Suspicious officials at Manchester council's benefit department set up simultaneous appointments for Leyla Yusuf and her fraudster alter ego, 'Leyla Hassan'.

When the same woman turned up for both appointments the department's suspicions were confirmed and in October Yusuf was arrested.

But when she appeared at Manchester Crown Court a judge spared her a prison term for the sake of her children – the youngest of whom is just six weeks old. She was merely given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years with supervision, plus 300 hours unpaid work.

So what did she do?

Soon after arriving in Britain on a Dutch passport in 2002 with her husband and two of her children, Yusuf invented 'Leyla Hassan'. She gave her persona the same year of birth, telephone numbers, and even some of her own children.

Once she had immigration status under the false name she was able to get a national insurance number and make claims for child benefit, housing, council tax, income support, tax credits and community care grants, while claiming an empty property at Rosebery Street, Moss Side as her address. In other words, it was calculated and deliberate fraud.

Yusuf was sentenced after admitting six counts of false accounting and one charge of failing to declare. A further four counts relating to an extra £30,000 she fiddled by claiming she was living apart from her taxi driver husband were left to lie on file.

Yusuf is currently making repayments to Manchester City Council and it is understood that DWP investigators may try to recoup some of the cash by going after her property in Dubai.

Passing sentence, His Hon. Judge Softhead Hammond said:

You have defrauded this country of over £70,000 by a deliberate and cynical manipulation of the benefits system. You richly deserve to go to prison and your husband is lucky he's not in the dock with you.

As it is you have five children, the youngest of them is only six weeks of age and the next youngest is two years of age. Were I to be sending you to prison it's going to be very difficult for someone to look after the two-year-old, the youngest child would go with you into the prison.

Benefit thief cousins to pay £200k

A Calderdale pensioner and his cousin who masterminded a massive benefit fraud have been stripped of £200,000 of their assets.

Ralph Dale and Jean Hutchinson ran the con from a tiny chamber behind a wardrobe in a secret headquaters above Hutchinson's children's charity shop. The conwoman scoured newspapers for details of people who had emigrated to Australia to steal their identities and claim every available handout.

In January last year deaf-mute Dale was jailed for four years and Hutchinson for five for the swindle dubbed "The Liar, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Both have since been released and were in court for the hearing.

More detail

DWP investigators had valued the fraud at £2.4 million before their conviction, but the amount has dwindled hearing by hearing. When they each admitted one count of conspiracy to defraud in May 2007 the swindle was worth £1.85 million but the prosecution yesterday agreed they made just £200,000.

Judge Deva Pillay imposed two confiscation orders, requiring Hutchinson to pay back £138,063.96 and Dale £61,936.04, which is held in bank accounts. They each have three months to pay or be jailed – Hutchinson for two and a half years and Dale for 18 months.

• These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  Benefit thieves should have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.

Council youth worker was benefit thief

A benefits cheat will spend Christmas behind bars after being jailed by Newbury magistrates.

The charges against Darren Mosher and a co-defendant, youth worker Charlotte Hawkins, arose from the time they were living together between 2005 and 2007, the court was told.

Alison Church, for West Berkshire Council, said that £7,393 was dishonestly claimed in housing benefit and £1,602 in council tax.

Mr Mosher, currently of no fixed address, admitted two charges of dishonestly failing to notify the DWP of a change in circumstances that would affect entitlement to benefits. Miss Hawkins admitted two similar charges plus a third of dishonestly making a false representation.

Steve Collins, for Miss Hawkins, said his client, a youth worker who dealt with referrals from West Berkshire’s Youth Offending Team, had repaid a substantial amount and shown “remorse and regret”.

Mike Davis, for Mr Mosher, said that, although his client had previously said he would decline to comply with a community sentence, he had since changed his mind and did not want to be imprisoned over Christmas!

Miss Hawkins was made subject to an 18-month community order with supervision requirement and ordered to undertake 100 hours’ unpaid community work. She was also made subject to a £1,000 compensation order.

Turning to Mr Mosher, presiding magistrate Michael Jackson said: “We have looked at your record of previous convictions, your lack of remorse and the fact that you seem to feel like you have done nothing wrong. We are sending you to prison today.” Mr Mosher was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.

I'm more interested in Miss Hawkins than in ne'er-do-well Mosher. She's obviously unsuitable to work with youth offenders. But will she keep her job at our expense?

Light sentence for benefit thief councillor

Former councillor Dennis McFarlane swindled more than £3,700 of taxpayers’ money during an eight-month benefits scam. He was Luton and Wayfield ward representative when he took the benefits, until he was caught in April of this year.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of obtaining benefits dishonestly and asked for a further 17 dishonest claims to be taken into account. He simply failed to declare on his benefit application form that he had received an annual members’ allowance – in excess of £8,000 per year – from Medway Council since he was elected in May 2007.

Magistrates gave McFarlane a two-year conditional discharge and ordered him to pay costs of £150, payable within 14 days. What's the pint of that?

He hasn't even paid the money back yet - Medway Council bosses said they will now seek to recover the housing benefit and council tax overpayments.

Speaking yesterday, McFarlane refused to apologise to the Medway taxpayers he conned, saying: “I have no comment to make. I made my comments in court. I’m glad it’s all over.”

Which it shouldn't be.

htp Dave

• These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Some local authorities think benefit fraud costs each household £80-£100 a year. The annual cost for each household is probably nearer £150-£175.

More on benefit thief employed by council

I blogged briefly on Andrew Wood ludicrously keeping his job with the council that had employed him.

Blogger North Northwester has pointed out a fuller treatment on ambush predator. Go read, and don't miss the comments there.

Unpaid work for £12k benefit thief

A mother of two who cheated the benefits system out of £12,000 has been ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Sally Barrowclough from South Shore admitted failing notify the DWP of a change in circumstances at Blackpool Magistrates Court. She did not tell the DWP she and the father of her two sons had started to live together. Her partner earned up to £255 a week.

• These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  Benefit thieves should have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Some local authorities think benefit fraud costs each household £80-£100 a year. The annual cost for each household is probably nearer £150-£175.

Judge sends £37k benefit thief mother to prison

A mother who worked as a cleaner while fraudulently claiming up to £37,000 in benefits has been sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment.

Karen Clancy claimed income support, housing and council tax benefits over two and a half years, while earning a living as a self-employed cleaner.

As a lone parent, she was entitled to the maximum level of support when her claim began legitimately in 1999.

The prosecutor said:

A total of 21 witness statements were taken, saying they had employed her during the course of this period as their cleaner. An aggravating feature is she was employing others to work with her as cleaners and some of those were in receipt of benefits. ...There was a loan application for a car in 2007 where she declared she had been self-employed for four years and three months with an income of £1,030 a month. She was working with undeclared cash in hand and had the true circumstances been known, she would not have received these benefits.

Passing sentence, Judge Richard Bray said he could not overlook "such calculated fraud":

You were regularly going and receiving advice for getting back into work and all the while you were secretly working and employing others.

I appreciate your home circumstances but it is no good blaming the judge. You brought this upon your own children.

Pensioner stole benefits

A pensioner who failed to declare more than £42,000 in secret savings while claiming benefits has received a 12 month suspended jail sentence and been ordered to pay £350 costs.

Valerie Warden, from Braunstone Town, pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonesty after investigations by Blaby District and Leicester City Council revealed she had claimed £16,000 in housing and council tax benefit while failing to declare cash from the sale of her former home.

Mrs Warden initially tried to claim she had not received the cash from the sale of her house until 2007, when she had moved to Blaby district, but further enquiries showed she had actually received the money in 2005 -  the same time she began claiming benefit from Leicester City Council.

• These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Theresa May, please note. Some local authorities think benefit fraud costs each household £80-£100 a year. The real cost is probably nearer £150-£175.

An interview under caution

An interesting first hand account of being interviewed under caution, apparently for a benefit fraud offence.

Benefit fraudster ludicrously gets council job back

A council worker exposed as a benefits cheat after boasting to colleagues that the town hall was paying his rent as well as his wages has got his old job back.

Andrew Wood falsely claimed more than £50,000 from the local authority that employed him over a six-year period, and he was sacked after admitting the fraud.

But a panel of councillors has reinstated him - even giving him four months' back pay - in a decision condemned by campaigners.

More

Tackling social housing fraud

The Evening Standard opines:

Benefit fraud of all kinds is at the expense of the poorest people; sub-letting social housing deprives families on council house waiting lists of a home.

Yet the question of how best to tackle those who illegally sub-let local authority housing is contentious. The Government seems set to offer cash payments of £500 for the first 1,000 people who tip off the authorities about illegal sub-letting. The Department for Communities today publishes a consultation document with the proposal. The sums involved are not large but it is the principle that counts. And in principle, the idea is odious.

Certainly it is desirable that people should inform the authorities about fraud and there are already hotlines and websites to enable them to do so. The Department has, of course, identified a real and worrying problem here, in that many occupants of social housing have illegally turned themselves into landlords, and sometimes very exploitative ones at that. We have no real idea of how many cases there are but one estimate of the number of properties involved is 50,000 nationally.

However, offering cash payments for people to do the right thing is quite another matter. It gives individuals a monetary incentive to shop their neighbours and it adds to the risks that tip-offs may be inaccurate and motivated simply by greed. By all means let local authorities step up their campaigns to encourage people to report tenancy fraud — Lambeth Council has already done so — but let them succeed by exhortation, not bribes.

It hasn't worked so far, has it.

Coffin bearer was benefit thief

A pall bearer carried coffins at Doncaster funerals - while claiming to have a bad back and fiddling thousands of pounds in benefits.

Former miner Victor Frost from Stainforth tried to exaggerate a back injury and claimed he had carried a coffin at only one funeral. But DWP investigators had evidence he worked regularly and his undertaker boss had never heard him complain about his back.

He was claiming Disability Living Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit between April 2004 and March 2008, on top of his mining pension, but kept quiet about his hearse work. In total he falsely claimed more than £21,000.

The judge at Doncaster Crown Court suspended a three months' prison term for two years, saying he could carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work instead if he was fit enough to do paid work.

Frost is paying the £21,000  back at the meaningless rate of £12 a week.

htp Dave