Tax credit fraud goes unpunished

An Ilminster woman has been convicted of benefit fraud after she hid her partner’s return to employment in order to gain £2,700 that she was not entitled to.

She failed to inform South Somerset District Council that her partner had returned to work and continued to receive Tax Credits.

All she got was a 12-month conditional discharge and an order to pay a mere £40 costs. 

The council participated in data matching exercises run by the DWP and the Audit Commission to identify the fraud, meaning that the full amount will be repaid.

The council’s investigations team has already clawed back over £209,000 of fraudulently claimed benefits since April 2009.

• First, poor members of society simply shouldn't have this temptation laid open to them. It's ridiculous that different parts of the government money machine don't routinely communicate changes like this to each other.
  
  But a crime has been committed - yet she has received no punishment at all. The investigating authorities should be very disappointed. What message does this sentence send to the public?