The founder of a charity for children with disabilities in west Lancashire has been sentenced for benefit fraud.
Joanne Mawdsley, 38, collected almost £12,000 in carer's allowance over a five-year period while earning £1,800 a month from Legacy Rainbow House.
Blackpool Magistrates gave Mawdsley a six-week curfew order and ordered her to pay £100 costs.
Mawdsley received the UK Community Action Award from Tony Blair for her charity work in 2007.
"It was a grave mistake but it was an oversight and I offered to pay the money back but it was too late," Mawdsley said after the hearing.
"I am gutted it has happened and I am paying the price for it."
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said because of the level of fraud involved they had no choice in prosecuting her.
A spokesman for the DWP said they may impose fines rather than court prosecutions "if it's the first offence and the overpayment doesn't exceed £2,000."
Mawdsley said she hoped it would not affect Legacy Rainbow House.
"I love helping the children there and will continue to do all I can to help them," she said.
Mawdsley founded Rainbow House in 2001 to provide services for children with health issues like her two sons, who have a rare genetic disorder.
5 comments:
The DWP are fantastic at prosecuting people, but utterly useless at helping people find work.
Is this the same person who has not found a job in the last 15 years, despite the grouth in public sector jobs during that time? I suggested voluntary work, which I did when I was unemployed.
There is a limit to the amount of help Job Centre Plus can actually do.
Is this the same person who has not found a job in the last 15 years, despite the grouth in public sector jobs during that time? I suggested voluntary work, which I did when I was unemployed.
Incorrect. This is the same person who has been repeatedly turned down for numerous jobs in the last 15 years, including by the public sector.
I have not only done voluntary work, but courses, training, work placements, vocational qualifications, additional qualification. And that's on top of three A levels and a degree.
But it's so much easier to blame disabled people for their own unemployment rather than backward, discriminatory employers, eh?
There is a limit to the amount of help Job Centre Plus can actually do.
I gathered that.
And feeling sorry for yourselves gets you where exactly?
15 years but no job offers? Come on, you've got to look at yourself and stop blamming others.
In the public sector I've worked with people in wheelchairs, a blind person (with a guide dog!). So they managed it.
And feeling sorry for yourselves gets you where exactly?
It doesn't get you anywhere; that's why I did all the things I listed instead. Just because some people get a breakthrough doesn't mean that those who don't get a similar breakthrough are at fault. Here's another link:
http://www.iosh.co.uk/news_and_events/news/latest_news_releases/25_back_to_work_plans.aspx
So three quarters of employers will not hire disabled people? Time to put the blame where it belongs - outside their door.
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