He had claimed housing benefit and council tax benefit on the basis that he was too ill to work and that his only source of income was his incapacity benefit. But he failed to tell Chorley Council and the DWP that he had obtained employment as a cleaner.
The case came to light when it was found that he had advertised his cleaning company on a website! An investigation revealed he had three cleaning jobs with Lancashire County Council (which data matching hadn't picked up) and during his interview under caution, he admitted he had also worked as cleaner for a building company.
Magistrates took into account that he was now back on benefits and sentenced him to a two-year conditional discharge and no award for costs was made.
Steps are being taken to recover the overpayment in full, we're told. Ha ha!
0 comments:
Post a Comment