Slough reports on benefit fraud recovery

Slough Borough Council reports it has recovered £2,492,616 of overpaid and fraudulently claimed housing benefits in the financial year of 2008/09.

They received 725 referrals during 2008/09 for alleged benefit fraud, and 406 investigations took place.

Over the year 2008/09:

• 31 housing and council tax benefit claimants were given a formal caution as a result of offences identified. Formal cautions are similar to a police caution and are recorded by the Department for Work and Pensions on a national database.
  
  
• 18 people were given administrative penalties as an alternative to prosecution. "This type of penalty is a fixed sum of 30 percent of the amount of benefit which has been overpaid to the claimant."
  
  
• 21 benefit cheats were successfully prosecuted in criminal court.

As we've said before, the administrative penalty is financially tougher than the vast majority of court penalties.

People convicted in court of benefit fraud who don't go to prison 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.

Two easy benefit frauds

Pamela Gill from Great Houghton dishonestly claimed dishonestly claimed £6,277 in Housing Benefit and £2,196 in Council Tax Benefit from April 2005 until May 2009. She had failed to declare she had over £20,000 in savings.

She got away with a two-year conditional discharge and an order to pay £400 costs. She must also repay the overpaid benefits.

In a separate case, Abdirahman Abdow from Northampton was found guilty in his absence of dishonestly claiming £861in Council Tax Benefit. He was ordered to pay a £350 fine, £50 costs and £15 Victim Surcharge by Northampton Magistrate's Court. He is also to repay the overpaid benefits. How likely is all that? They've probably written it off already.

In October 2009 when Northampton Council received information that Mr Abdow was receiving Tax Credits that he had not declared to the Council.

Officers working on the case uncovered evidence showing that Mr Abdow had failed to declare he had received over £2,000 in Tax Credits. When interviewed under caution Mr Abdow admitted he knew he should have declared the Tax Credit.

So there you have it. Two cases where dishonest people easily ran rings round the clunking fist's benefits arrangements.

Our pernicious benefits system

57% of single mothers say they have never lived with a husband or boyfriend because they make the ‘lifestyle choice’ to stay on their own, reports The Mail.

20 years ago, only 15% of single mothers of children under 13 said they had never lived with a partner.

So much for the millions poured into teenage sex education. In many cases this will have been a deliberate lifestyle choice - which is open to these young women because of hugely expensive benefits policies which reward these women for having a child when they are still very young.

Click on 'Best rated' in the Mail's comments section to get a taste of the healthy scepticism with which the government's protestations on this are viewed. These girls make what for them is a cool, rational choice.

More benefit frauds

Suzannah Lorton, from Broadstairs, has been given a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work. She admitted claiming £21,648 worth of extra child benefits and tax credits while she worked cash-in-hand as a carer. She also pretended to be living alone when she was actually living with her husband.

Along the coast, Alexander Lindsay from Hove cheated taxpayers out of almost £19,000. He was given a nine month prison sentence on six counts of housing benefit and council tax benefit fraud dating back to 2003, each sentence to run concurrently but suspended for two years. As part of the sentence Mr Lindsay will have to carry out 250 hours unpaid work and pay £1,000 costs. He has repaid almost £15,500 to the council; the rest is being recovered from him.

Overseas benefit fraud estimate still £63m

The Daily Mail returns to the subject of expatriate benefit fraud, which we mentioned last year.The government says that overseas benefit fraud costs around £63million a year.

In a parliamentary answer, Work and Pensions Minister Jonathan Shaw listed 20 countries where 51 cases of British benefit fraud were being investigated.

The Government is employing DWP officers based abroad. Eh?

Incredibly, says The Mail, expats can claim Jobseekers' Allowance for up to three months, so long as they register that they are looking for work with an overseas job centre. Eh?

They can also legitimately claim disability and sickness benefits as well as winter fuel payments, even in hot climates.

Tory work and pensions spokesman Mark Harper called on the Government to tighten up its rules. 'Hard working members of the public will be astounded that it's so easy to play the system,' he said.

'Serious questions needs to be asked. How long has this been going on for and how much money has Labour lost? And most importantly how is Labour going to get a grip of the problem?'


They're not gripping overseas benefit fraud, just as they aren't gripping benefit fraud in general.

A benefits insider writes to the Express

The Express highlights the rising costs of housing benefit, which has now reached £17bn a year.

Yvette Cooper announced plans to cap rents paid to private landlords of up to £1,800 a week to prevent claimants living in palatial homes on benefits. The reforms will calculate the sums allowed by excluding the top five to 10 per cent of rents charged by private landlords – an average cut of at least £100 a month. But, says the paper, a shortage of social housing means the bill is likely to keep rising.

An insider has added a comment there:

The whole of the benefits system is riddled with incompetence. Those who are in the know can easily and cynically exploit the system whilst those with a genuine need often find claiming to be a nightmare.

As someone who was one of those underfunded few involved in the almost impossible task of trying to stem the tide of benefit fraud, I am appalled to find that successive governments and their town hall toadies still continue to find ways of spending more of our money on unecessary benfit payments whilst apparently not being held to account for losses. It would appear that these are simply written off as 'acceptable losses'.No wonder we continually face increased taxes.It is time goverment faced up to its respnsibilites and started cracking down hard on this blatant leeching of public funds.

h/t Dave

£41k benefits cheat not inconvenienced

Amanda Stone, from Henleaze, who claimed £41,144 between January 2004 and November 2008 as a lone parent, belatedly admitted to authorities she had married – but said her husband turned homosexual and left her.

She legitimately claimed money as a jobless single mother but failed to declare changes in her life such as her marriage to security guard David and her occasional work.

When she was first questioned she fabricated her husband's change of sexual orientation, saying he had gone off to live in Tewkesbury, but then admitted he was actually contributing to her bills.

She received a four-month jail term, suspended for two years.

h/t Dave

• She lied about her circumstances for nearly five years. She took over £40,000 of our money, and when she was caught she lied again. But the sentence doesn't seem to inconvenience her.
  
  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 go to prison 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.

Asylum seeker jailed for £30k fraud

An asylum seeker who funded a lavish lifestyle after claiming more than £30,000 in Government cash has been jailed for fraud.

Lina Dia Bavi was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to charges of fraud and using a bogus identity document.

The 34-year-old, who was believed to come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, used several false identities and fake passports to maintain a comfortable lifestyle at the taxpayers’ expense.

He was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court following an investigation by the UK Border Agency.

Bavi started to claim asylum support in 2008 via his partner – from Swansea – who was entitled to benefits while her asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers are not permitted to work while their claims are ongoing. However, while he was receiving asylum support, Bavi was working illegally for Delphi Diesel Systems in Stonehouse, where he earned more than £20,000.

Bavi used his illegally-obtained wages – and the Government benefits he received – to buy expensive goods, such as a plasma TV, laptop and MP3 player.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said it would now take steps to deport Bavi at the end of his sentence.

The agency will also seek to recoup the benefits Bavi fraudulently received.

Gwyn Griffiths, of the UK Border Agency’s regional immigration crime team, said: “Asylum benefits are designed to support people while their claim for international protection is decided.

“Bavi abused the system, not to avoid poverty and destitution but to fund a lifestyle to which he wasn’t entitled.

“The courts have handed him a jail term which we hope will act as a deterrent to others and we will take steps to deport him at the end of his sentence.

“We will now start clawing back the money he has stolen from law-abiding taxpayers.”

h/t Dave

Jail for £44k benefits cheat

Sally Mogford was locked up for three months on Tuesday after she admitted two charges of falsely claiming thousands of pounds in income support and housing and council tax benefits.

Although Derby Crown Court was told it was her first offence, Judge Ebrahim Mooncey told her a "deterrent" sentence had to be passed.

The offences took place between February 17, 2005 and March 24, 2008.

Mogford had been legitimately claiming benefits but the circumstances changed when her partner Robert Brierley moved in with her in February 2005.

But Mogford still claimed she was living alone when she was interviewed after an allegation was made against her.

She was interviewed again in March 2008 when she said she was aware of the rules but denied her partner was living with her. She said he was living with his parents, but after checks revealed this was not true Mogford asked for another meeting with officials when she made a full admission.

The total amount falsely claimed was £44,215 and that Mogford had paid back just over £3,000.

Judge Mooncey told Mogford:

In society, people who are able to work, work for a living to earn money or they can choose to live on benefits. But living on benefits you are not entitled to cheat and make people who work wonder why they are working.

For more than three years, you cheated the system. You filled in forms over a period of time and when interviewed, told lies about your circumstances to get money you were not entitled to.

I have been asked to suspend the sentence but I am afraid I cannot do that. A deterrent sentence is necessary.

The slow tread of the law

Back in October 2008, Shazad Akhtar was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of benefit fraud.

Now at long last he has been ordered to pay back £64,339.96 of which £37,999.96 is to be repaid to Oldham Council. The amount has to be repaid within 12 months otherwise he will be jailed for two years and still be required to make the repayment.

Flint woman jailed for £20k benefit fraud

Anne Marie Ireland, a mother of four, claimed £20,500 on the basis she was unemployed, but in fact she was running her own catering business.

She also failed to disclose to officials the fact she had obtained £22,000 from the sale of the former matrimonial house following her divorce.

She had claimed benefits almost continuously from November 2005 until August 2008. Investigations showed that she had been the owner of a business trading as Jay’s Snack Burger Van since at least 2005. She claimed the business belonged to her son – although he would have been 14 when offences started.

She was jailed for 15 weeks.

Benefit fraud in Basildon

A benefit cheat who claimed £7,500 had her jail sentence suspended at Basildon Crown Court.

Michelle Samuels, from Basildon, admitted producing false documents, failing to declare her partner was living with her and failing to declare earnings from her job to claim the housing benefit in less than a year.

Samuels was handed a six- month prison sentence, suspended for two years, a one-year supervision order and was told she must pay the full amount of overpaid benefit back.

• So what? She gets to carry on with her life and just pay back what she stole when she can.
  
  Big deal.

Landlords convicted of benefit fraud

Millions of people receive benefits and are supposed to update state authorities with many changes to their lives.

A Luton landlord has been convicted of benefit fraud. Alan Brown was renting a room in his home to a benefit claimant while receiving benefit payments into his bank account. When the claimant moved out of the property, Brown continued to accept the payments and failed to report the change in circumstances to the council. He had a duty to report the changes and by not doing so he fraudulently received payments totalling £2,450. Brown received a 12 month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £150 in costs. He is also required to repay the £2,450 to the council. So not much punishment there.

A Chippenham landlord has also been prosecuted for the same offence, which resulted in him being overpaid rent of £2,484. Magistrates gave him credit for his early guilty plea but ordered him to pay a £300 fine, a £15 victim surcharge and £300 costs. Anthony Knowles will also have to repay the overpayments he received from the council.

A data matching exercise highlighted that the tenant had moved and was resident elsewhere in the country. An investigation revealed the tenant had left the property in June 2008 and housing benefit continued to be paid to the landlord because the council had not been told of the change by the tenant or the landlord.

Benefit thief lays down the law about "her" money

A Burnley mother who lied her way to almost £20,000 from the public purse in a benefits scam now has a similar amount in the bank, a court was told.

Shahida Shaheen had not declared to the authorities she had more then £8,000 savings, or her rental income from another property. Over four years and three months her dishonesty in the "multiple fraud" netted her £19,306 she wasn't entitled to in a claim that was false from the start.

As the defendant faced sentence it was revealed she had about £20,000 in the bank. Shaheen had paid back £5,000 of the money which she took, at £17.70 a week.

The Bench said they wanted the DWP to be aware she had the means to repay the remaining sum, reiterating it was public money. Evidently they felt the DWP was being too easy on her.

The defendant admitted five charges of making a false statement/representation to obtain benefits and two of failing to notify a change in circumstances, between December 2004 and February 2009. She was given 120 days in jail, suspended for 12 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work. She must pay £75 costs.

Her claims for income support and council tax benefits were on the basis she was a carer. The overpayment was now being taken out of her carer's allowance and the amount still outstanding was £15,358.

The defence said she had already repaid a lump sum. She had come to England when she was 21, had never had any formal education and until 2004 had been employed as a production worker. She was very much a saver and had her family live very, very frugally.

The defendant put money aside for her children's future, such as paying for university and put the money in accounts in her name. The cash would not be touched as it was for specified purposes. It shouldn't work like that.

Mr Tindall added Shaheen had been of previous good character. He added: "She is extremely distressed about appearing before the courts and the consequences that may have on her family."

She's distressed at being caught. She stole for over four years.

Sussex benefit thieves sentenced

Andrea Short, from Lancing, falsely claimed £7,967 from Adur District Council. Between September, 2006, and September, 2009, she had failed to disclose an occupational pension and a second bank account.

She was sentenced to a 12-month order, including a three-month electronically tagged curfew from 6pm to 6am, and ordered to pay £651 in prosecution costs.

Stuart Norris, from Hove, falsely claimed £9,725 from Adur District Council. Norris, who lived in Shoreham, at the time, had pleaded guilty to falsely producing a document to claim benefits at an earlier hearing.

Between July, 2008, and June, 2009, Norris had signed a housing and council tax benefit claim submitted by his wife, but failed to tell her or Adur District Council about three flats he owned in Crewe, Cheshire. (How likely is it that she would have had no idea about that?)

Norris was sentenced to a 12-month order, including 300 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £713.50.

Zabina Kousar from Rochdale dishonestly failed to declare she owned a second a property on three separate occasions dating back to 2006, whilst claiming Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Kousar pleaded guilty to three offences of dishonestly making a false statement in order to obtain benefit. Due to the amount of money she had claimed and the length of time in which the dishonestly had taken place, she was given a 12 month community order to undertake 80 hours of unpaid work. In addition she was ordered to pay £250 in costs and will have to repay the £6968 that she fraudulently received.

Mickey mouse sentences for £70k benefit theft

A couple who jetted off on holiday with some of the proceeds of a £70,000 benefit fraud were caught out by snaps of them posing with Mickey Mouse (see one here).

Marina Beddows, 54, and Colin Godbold, 57, were found out after they took their break, allowing investigators to snoop around their home.

The pair, from Margate, Kent, were found to be living together and claiming income support, council tax and housing benefits they were not entitled to.

They had claimed their relationship was landlord and tenant but fraud investigators used snaps of the beaming couple posing with Disney characters Pluto and Mickey Mouse to prove that the pair were an item.

Beddows was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, while Godbold was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail, suspended for 18 months.

A 12-week curfew was also imposed on the couple who admitted benefit fraud between 2002 and 2007 at a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court last week.

‘Benefit thieves have to understand that they will not get away with it,’ said Steve Tamsett, senior fraud manager for Kent.

• But they did, didn't they, Steve?
  
  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 go to prison 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.

Slow investigation of single person fraud

Mother-of-five Patricia Watson from Hartlepool was paid £29,975 over three years through falsely claiming income support on the basis that she was separated from her husband while he was living with the family.

She claimed income support between April 2003 and November 2006 and received council tax benefit between April 2003 and March 2007.

The DWP launched an investigation after a tip-off. Her husband was seen leaving the family home on a regular basis when it was watched between June and October in 2006. He gave the house as his address on bank statements and various household utility bills. And this has come to court in 2010.

The court heard Mr Watson has now moved out permanently. Her mitigation is here.

She was given a nine-month prison sentence which was suspended for two years. And that seems to be it.

Trivial sentences for single person frauds

Kerry Brown, from Langwith, has admitted failing to declare she was living with the father of her children, who was in full time employment, while she claimed over £4,300 in Income Support and Housing and Council Tax Benefit as a lone parent. She was fined a piffling £200 with an additional £100 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge, and was told to repay the benefits.

Susan Corringham, from Immingham, had been living with her husband, but she failed to tell the authorities. He moved out, but later she failed to declare that he had moved back in again. She was overpaid £21,341 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and Income Support, between February 2005 and September 2008. The housing benefit overpaid is being taken from her current benefit! She was given a two-month suspended prison sentence. The judge told her that, it were not for her ill-health, she would have been sent to prison because of the amount of the overpayment.

Nicola Bratby from Rochdale admitted that she had failed to notify changes in her circumstances when her income increased after changing jobs and after the relationship with her partner resumed after a period of separation. She admitted falsely claiming £2,804 in housing benefit and £361 of council tax benefits. She was just fined £200 and ordered to pay £300 costs.

• With such trivial sentences, why do the authorities even bother?
  
  These thieves 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 go to prison 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.

A pointless prosecution

Karen Bass, from Cheadle Hulme, has admitted failing to declare income from working, thereby obtaining benefits of £6,821 fraudulently from Stockport Council.

Miss Bass was given a three year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 costs.

The theft of public money was discovered by Stockport Council’s Benefit processing staff who discovered discrepancies on the claim, which was investigated by the Council’s Counter Fraud Investigation Team.

The overpayments of, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are to be repaid and are separate from the court action.

It makes you wonder why they bothered with the court.

Local housing allowance must be paid to landlords

Here is an interesting post about Labour's system of paying housing allowance to the tenant, rather than directly to the landlord. It seems to have given scope for a new benefit fiddle.

At last, the current government have acknowledged that they will be looking at the possibility of re-instating the choice for tenants receiving local housing allowance to have their rent paid directly to their landlords and the shadow housing minister has confirmed that, if the Conservatives are successful at the next election, they will ensure that all local housing allowance will be paid directly.

In my opinion, this is a must. At Landlord Action, since the rule change in April 2008, we have seen a huge increase in possession actions against tenants who have withheld rent and not passed on to the landlord. On average we deal with 250 tenant eviction cases per month, of which around 10% are directly linked to housing benefit not being passed over by the tenant.

The law was brought in to empower tenants and make them feel part of the buy to let market place and there are many good tenants that are honest and pay the allowance over to the landlords and would have no problem with the rent being paid directly, however, there are still a large number that are not so conscientious. I wrote to Tony McNulty MP at the Department for Work and Pensions at the end of 2008, expressing my concerns at the way the system currently works and it took him nearly 3 months just to acknowledge my letter and then his response was to insist that safeguards were in place to ensure it worked properly. I beg to differ.

An Ealing landlord emailed to say her tenant had started to claim housing benefit but had lied about how much she was receiving and when she was being paid so, after a few months of not receiving her rent, she rang Ealing Housing Benefit direct to find out what was happening. Due to the Data Protection Act, they were unable to pass on any information but, as she was owed the equivalent of 8 weeks rent, she was able to apply to the council to be paid directly which she duly did. However, the tenant used her 30 days to object and, soon after the rent was paid over by the council, she left the flat without notice, leaving 16 bin bags of rubbish behind, a fridge and cupboards full of food and, all this, just before Christmas. To add insult to injury, she invoiced the landlord £5,000 and insisted that her deposit be used as rent, despite the fact that she caused so much damage and the landlord is still in the process of renovating the property.

As the landlord in question quite rightly pointed out to Ealing Council, her tenant had embezzled £2,600 of tax payers’ money and the tax payer loses out on many counts. Their reaction? They just laughed and said it happens all the time. A tenant in receipt of housing benefit does not pass it on, waits for the landlord to apply to the council directly, waits 30 days for their objection to be heard and, as soon as the money is paid directly, they leave without notice. The council recognises that their system is being abused and yet it is not regarded as benefit fraud, but as a civil case between the landlord and tenant.

This tenant was taken to court and the case won, however, she has refused to pay in full, threatening to declare herself bankrupt. Like many, as an educated single woman of 45 who is quite capable of securing a steady job, she is abusing a system that was designed to help the not so well off.

Funnily enough, my next story is also from Ealing. My landlord found the tenant through the Ealing incentive scheme who paid him £3,500 to take the tenant on. The tenant had to pay one month’s rent to move in – no deposit was taken. One month into the tenancy and no more rent was forthcoming, even though he knew it was being paid for by the local housing allowance scheme. The payment of rent was suspended to the tenant who wrote giving her one months notice to reply. If she ignores the letter, however, the landlord does not get any more rent. The arrears to date total £5,360 and Landlord Action are sending out the rent arrears notice today.

A North West London landlord was asked to house a single mum arriving from Nigeria and was told it would be her plus one child, although it was later established that there were four children in the property. The tenant started off well and passed over the rent for a couple of months - then it stopped, building up arrears of around £3,000 which is where it stood when we were contacted by the landlord to evict her as he wanted her out to get a more reliable tenant. She was successfully evicted and, in this case, the money was eventually paid back although it did take a very long time and, unsurprisingly, it put the landlord off letting to housing benefit tenants again. The tenant in question? Well she went on to be re-housed by her local council!

The majority of cases we deal with are pretty standard in that housing benefit tenants are moved into a property, pay up for a couple of months, and then stop paying. The old hands are very clever in that as soon as the problem is brought to the attention of their local council, they vacate the property before it gets to court. This ensures that their name has not been logged anywhere and they are free to move on and be re-housed. It appears that the money is regularly used for drink or drugs, with police raids being common place on the properties. One landlord who was not being paid his rent was aware that his tenant had purchased a large plasma TV screen and a new laptop, despite owing him £1,000 in rent arrears.

Shambles of Brent benefit fraud case

NW10 resident, Rita Boateng, was given a suspended 12 month prison sentence at Harrow Crown Court on 22 January 2010, after pleading guilty to fraudulently receiving income support and housing and council tax benefit totalling £68,676 between December 1998 and March 2007.

The fraud was uncovered by Brent Council's Audit and Investigation unit after a data matching exercise showed that rather than being a single, unemployed mother, as she had claimed, Ms Boateng had been employed since October 1991.

Ms Boateng originally applied for income support from Jobcentreplus in March 1990. She later submitted claims for benefits from Brent Council and was awarded housing and council tax benefit from December 1998 - when she had already been employed for eight years.

As a result of a data matching exercise Ms Boateng's claim was brought to the attention of investigators who discovered that she had in fact been in full time employment since at least October 1991. She was initially employed as a Support Manager with Transport for London (so in the state sector, but her 13 years there weren't picked up) and then transferred to Tubelines Ltd in 2004. She was earning over £25,000 per year (salary as at 2004/5) and received over £20,000 in 2005 after volunteering for redundancy.

She failed to advise the Jobcentreplus or Brent Council about any of these changes in her circumstances continuing to claim benefit as a single, unemployed mother.

When initially interviewed about this matter in 2006, Ms Boateng denied any employment. When challenged she refused to answer any questions and failed to co-operate any further with investigators. Note she is interviewed in 2006, but benefits continue until March 2007.

When the matter was brought in front of the courts, Ms Boateng pleaded guilty to six charges of benefit fraud.

Ms Boateng was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work in the community. In addition she was ordered to pay £75 towards legal costs.

Brent Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Bob Blackman, Lead Member for Resources, said:

Once again the hard work of council investigators has paid off with the conviction of a benefit fraudster. We will always go after people who are defrauding not only the council but local residents out of money which could be spent on other public services.

Very slowly, Bob - she was first interviewed in 2006 and the case came to court in 2010. Well done!

In passing sentence the judge indicated that under normal circumstances a custodial sentence would have been considered however in this instance she was using her discretion as sending Ms Boateng to prison would mean her losing her job and lose the means to repay her debt. So she's found another job.

Financial investigators are still pursuing Ms Boateng with a view to confiscating gains made by her from her criminal activity. To date she has repaid over £4000 of housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support.  

Only £64,000 to go.

• 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.

Brighton fine for blue badge fraud

A Hove driver found fraudulently using a blue badge belonging to a disabled person has been fined £525.

Yiannis Meltsis was instructed to pay £250 costs and £15 victim surcharge at Brighton Magistrates Court.

The court heard how in February last year Mr Meltsis was stopped by a police constable after parking in Prince Albert Street with the badge displayed.

When asked about the blue badge, Mr Meltsis admitted he had found it and then handed the badge in to the police officer.

Not fraud, just government tossing our money about

BRITAIN’S benefits shambles was exposed last night by the case of a mother-of-six who receives £7,000 a month of taxpayers’ cash to live in a £2million mansion.

Critics hit out at the Government for overseeing a system that entitles jobless Essma Marjan to claim almost £100,000 a year in housing benefit and other free handouts.

The money allows her to live in a plush five-bedroom villa in a desirable part of London, close to the home of Sir Paul McCartney.

The 34-year-old single mother says she was forced to move after the birth of her five-month-old son meant her previous home was too small for her growing brood.

She even moaned: “The house is lovely and very big but I don’t have enough furniture to fill it.”

Yesterday, outraged politicians called for an overhaul of the system which allows Miss Marjan to legitimately claim £1,600-a-week in housing benefit, adding up to £84,000 a year.

She also receives an estimated £15,000 a year in other payouts, including child benefit. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa May said: “We cannot go on with a situation where families on housing benefits live in million-pound mansions.

“We plan to review the whole system to make sure it is fair. Families on benefits should not be able to live in houses that people in work and not on benefits can’t afford.”

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is a huge bill, which is clearly excessive. The current rules put councils in the impossible situation of having to pay for houses chosen by the claimant, even if they cost an absolute fortune.

“Of course people shouldn’t be left without a home but there are plenty of better value houses. This is costly for taxpayers and deprives other people of much needed assistance.”

London-born Miss Marjan found the house in Maida Vale, north-west London, herself on the internet and rented it through a private letting agency, rather than wait for Westminster City Council to give her a vacant property on its books.

She then applied to the council for £1,600-a-week in housing benefit, the maximum allowed.

She shares the property with her six children, Zekia, 14, Abdulhakim, 13, Jehad, 11, Hamza, ten, and Ayman, two, and Nasir, five months.

Her first four children were fathered by London-born tiler Clint Benjamin and the last two by Pakistani lawyer Arfan Razaq. She has split from both.

Describing her good fortune, Miss Marjan said: “I moved here at the beginning of the month as I’m entitled to a five-bedroom house.

“I was in a three-bedroom council house but I needed a bigger place once my new baby came along. So the council agreed to pay the £1,600 a week to a private landlord as they didn’t have any houses big enough.”

The four-storey house boasts five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a double living room, and a large fitted kitchen-diner with French doors leading on to a landscaped garden.

The family also has two flat-screen televisions and several leather sofas, while the wooden floorboards are scattered with her children’s toys.

Westminster City Councillor Melvyn Caplan said: “The whole system is entirely wrong and people should not be able to choose where they live and the Government then have to pay that amount.

“It is totally unfair. We’ve been calling for some time for the Government to reform this.”

His fellow councillor Phillipa Roe added: “The Government has repeatedly pledged to reform housing benefit but failed to do so. The whole system needs a radical review and ministers should stop dragging their heels and get on and do it.”

A neighbour of Miss Marjan said: “If she has managed to find a loophole in the system that allows her to live here when there are thousands of other people close to the poverty line then it is ridiculous.

“It’s unfair to other people who have worked hard for their money.”

The exorbitant benefit claims are possible under Labour’s controversial Local Housing Allowance, which enables council tenants to rent property from private landlords and apply for benefit.

The rates range from a single room in a shared house up to properties with five bedrooms and the benefits paid out are based on rental figures for the area. The maximum amount is set by central government.

Other recent benefits scandals include a single mother of eight who claimed £90,000 a year to live in a £2.6million mansion in Notting Hill, west London.

In total, 16 families are living in million-pound-plus London properties funded by the LHA.

A spokeswoman for Westminster City Council claimed the local authority was powerless under the rules to refuse to pay Miss Marjan’s rent.

She said: “We didn’t place her there. If she can show she is eligible for a house that big, under the current rules, she can find a house herself and come to the council and say I’d like to claim housing benefit for a five-bedroom house and get £1,600 a week.

“We don’t agree with the system and have been asking for a change for quite a while on this.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman claimed that only a “small number of people” were “getting excessively high payments”.

He said: “We took immediate action and capped the Local Housing Allowance in April. The plans we published in December go even further and will exclude high rents from LHA rate calculations.

“Only a very small minority of people receive such high rates of housing benefit. The average payment is £81 a week.”

h/t Dave

Barking stepping up on blue badge fraud

Barking is continuing to publicise its tougher policy on disabled blue badge fraud. They repeat that a recent check in Barking Town Centre revealed that 20% of the permits had been illegally copied.

The scam, costing more than £50million a year in revenue lost through stolen badges alone, is rife in Manchester and Liverpool, where it has been linked to organised crime, including stolen, untaxed and uninsured cars.

The department for Transport says forged badges can sell for up to £1,500, but in the pubs of Barking and Dagenham they can evidently change hands for £20-£30.

The Government is spending £10m on setting up a database of the blue badges but it is not expected to be operational before 2015. Over five years to set up a simple database?

Meanwhile, Barking hopes to set up a team of covert investigators to follow and record rogue motorists home to identify illegal parking patterns, but even that could take at least six months to launch.

A former benefit fraud investigator writes

£3.5b losses are only a very rough guesstimate and I would venture to suggest the cost of benefit fraud is a whole lot more than that!

Yes, the number is pitched to be conservative - even though it's more than three times the figure the government will admit to.

I WAS a Benefit Fraud Investigator but tired at bosses ordering me to go for easy targets (pensioners) to grab 'tick-box' sanctions when we all knew REAL fraudsters were continually allowed to 'get away' with huge-cost benefit crimes because thoughts of proper investigation terrify decision makers.

It sickens me to know just what a 'con' 'tackling benefit fraud' has become and to know too, that were investigation of this crime dealt with properly, government coffers would be billions of pounds better off for those who truly need help.

Benefit fraud is more rife than anyone cares to acknowledge - from many claimants who 'use' the system to further their property portfolios and business/family interests.

It's frustrating to know that no one appears to care about these total abuses; nor is interested enough to ask how it could very easily be fixed.

"Tackling benefit fraud" is a very (unfunny) joke.

Agreed - this blog is certainly interested in proposals for tackling benefit fraud properly.

See another insider's view here.

Coach driver gets away with benefit fraud

A COACH driver from Bosbury has been given a 24-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months after cheating the benefits system of £27,745.

Brain Pizzey was claiming Carer’s Allowance for his wife, as well as Pension Credit. He claimed the benefits from February 2005 to December 2008 on the basis that he was of pensionable age, he had no savings and that the couple’s only source of income was his wife’s Disability Living Allowance.

However, evidence from the DWP showed that during the course of his claims Mr Pizzey had worked as a driver for Newbury Coaches from March 2005.

Mr Pizzey admitted undertaking the work and not declaring a change in circumstances to the DWP. He was given two 12-week custodial sentences, suspended for 12 months, with a 12-month community supervision order and was ordered to repay £27,745, with no costs.

DWP fraud investigator Sian Fellowes said: “If you commit benefit theft, don’t expect to get away with it. Our investigators are equipped with a wide range of powers and techniques to track you down. We are catching more and more of those who steal money intended for vulnerable people, and when we track them down they face heavy penalties.”

Mr Pizzey didn't, though.

Gran, 38, escapes lightly

38-year-old grandmother Rose Robertson, of Bilston, who cheated taxpayers out of £36,623 in income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit over five years, has avoided an immediate jail term.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court she was sentenced to 40 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, with 18 months' supervision.

She falsely claimed more than £26,000 in income tax and £10,681 in housing and council tax benefit between January 2003 and July 2008. But she had failed to tell the DWP she was actually living with her husband.

Mr Colin McCarragher, defending, said: “She has always maintained she didn’t really understand the full criminality of what she was doing at the time but she does appreciate that now,” he said.

Recorder James Burbidge QC spared Robertson an immediate jail term but said: “I don’t accept you do not appreciate how serious your offending was. I think you well knew that you were abusing the benefits system so you have not pulled the wool over my eyes.”

h/t Dave

• Nothing bad is going to happen to her.
  
  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 go to prison 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.
  

South Staffs January benefit frauds

A 35 year old man from Acton Trussell was prosecuted at Stafford Magistrates for failing to declare he was working and he was also a full time student. The overpayments of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit were just over £2,200 and are being repaid. There were also overpayments of over £2,000 income support and £1,000 invalid care allowance. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 100 hours community service with a 12 months supervision order and ordered to pay costs of £100.00.

A 38 year old man from Wombourne was prosecuted for failing to declare that his wife’s earnings had increased every month over the last two years. The overpayments of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit were just over £4,000 and are being repaid. He pleaded guilty and was fined £100.00 and ordered to pay costs of £252.00 to the council and a £15.00 victim surcharge for a first offence.

A couple from Codsall aged 25 and 29 were prosecuted for failing declare changes in circumstances namely awards of tax credits and partner’s earnings following a return to work from maternity leave. The overpayment of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit were over £4,500 and are being repaid. Both pleaded guilty and were fined £130.00 and £100.00 respectively and both ordered to pay costs of £126.00 to the council and a £15.00 victim surcharge.

A 56 year old woman from Perton was prosecuted for failing to declare that her husband was working self employed as a taxi driver for Codsall Cars. The overpayments of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit were just over £3,000 and have been repaid. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 9 month Community order supervised by the probation service and costs of £252.00 were awarded to the Council.

A 33 year old woman from Great Wyrley was formally cautioned following a joint investigation for failing to declare she was working whilst claiming housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support. The overpayments of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Income Support were just over £700.00 and all monies have to be repaid.

h/t Dave

Light sentences for Hastings benefit thieves

Stephen Mitchell claimed Housing Benefit from July 2008 but did not tell Hastings Borough Council he had moved out of the property in September.

He was found guilty in his absence of falsely claiming £4,643 after failing to appear in court. He has been told to pay back the benefit and pay a fine of £200, costs of £300, and a victim surcharge of £15.

Jane Rixon admitted to claiming more than £9,500 in Housing and Council Tax Benefit and Income Support. She claimed to be a single parent but her husband Dean was living with her.

Magistrates gave her a conditional discharge for two years. She was ordered to pay £150 in costs and will have to repay the benefit money.

Evidently stealing nearly £10,000 wasn't much of a crime.

h/t Dave

Lessons from Yeovil recidivist benefits thief

A Yeovil woman has been convicted for benefit fraud for the second time in three years after she fraudulently claimed another £2,000 from the council taxpayer's purse.

Lisa Roskelly had only just finished an 18-month conditional discharge from a previous conviction in October 2007 for claiming £3,400 in housing and council tax benefits that she was not entitled to.

But less than three years later Mrs Roskelly was brought back to Yeovil Magistrates Court by South Somerset District Council for claiming an additional £2,000. She had failed to inform the district council that she was receiving Tax Credits.

Magistrates sentenced Mrs Roskelly to a further 12 months supervision order but also insisted that she undertakes 80 hours of unpaid work. She must also repay the full £2000 overpayment on top of the original fraudulent overpayments.

• There's a lot to learn from this. First, the government databases involved must communicate with each other. Otherwise, the confused will fall between the cracks and the fraudsters will exploit them.
  
  Second, she was receiving tax credits even though she does not seem yet to have finished paying off the original fraud.
  
  Third, the original sentence was clearly no deterrent to re-offending.
  
  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.

More prison for £35k benefits thief

Helen Morris-Oldfield, formerly from Somersham, pleaded guilty to five charges of defrauding the council and the DWP of benefits between 2002 and 2007. The court heard that Morris-Oldfield, who is already serving a prison sentence, had been found to have made false claims for benefit when she declared that she was a single parent.


A tip-off from a member of the public suggested that Morris-Oldfield's partner had lived with her whilst she made her claims and that she had received an inheritance which she concealed from the benefit agencies. An investigation found that Morris-Oldfield had lived with her husband, who was in full time work, between 2002 and 2006, and that in 2006 she had received capital that she failed to report. Morris Oldfield was interviewed, but refused to answer questions put to her about her false claims. She was found to have been overpaid £35,288 in state benefits between 2002 and 2006.

The chairman said that this matter was so serious, only custody could be considered. She was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment starting from when her current sentence ends.

Determined benefit thief in court

Margaret Farrell from St Ives received a four month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, after the court heard that she had pleaded guilty to seven charges of benefit fraud between 2002 and 2006. A tip-off from a member of public alerted the council and the DWP that Farell, who had claimed housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support as an unemployed single parent between 2002 and 2008, had a partner living with her who worked full time.

An investigation revealed evidence that Farrell's partner had lived with her between 2002 and 2008. She was invited to attend an interview but chose not to answer any questions put to her. Farrell had been overpaid £29,646 due to her false claims. Elaine Havord, for Farrell, told the court that her client had no previous history of offending, had made arrangements to repay the sums she had falsely claimed and was seeking new employment to try and increase the amount she could repay. Mrs Havord said that Farrell had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity (this is the woman who refused to answer questions in interviews) and fully accepted that there was no-one else to blame but herself for the predicament she now found herself in.

As well the suspended prison sentence the bench ordered Farrell to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and pay the council's costs of £220.

Slap on the wrist for deliberate benefit fraud

Omur Polat, from St Ives, made claims for housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support between 2002 and 2008, declaring that he was unemployed with a single bank account. In 2006 he was awarded a disabled facilities grant, as he declared he had no income or savings of his own. A lengthy investigation followed a tip-off that he was working.

Enquiries revealed that Polat applied for credit in 2006 declaring that both he and his wife were employed, having a joint income of £48,000 per annum. The couple also held numerous bank accounts, one of which showed deposits in excess of £27,000, in one 12 month period, from unknown sources. Another account showed a deposit in 2005 of £25,000. When interviewed, Polat claimed the money had been given to him from various sources such as friends and family as loans, and inheritance payments. Polat was found to have been overpaid £19,592 in benefits and further £3,097 as part of his disabled facilities grant.

In mitigation, Samantha Jewell for Polat told the bench that her client had a long history of gambling, which got him into debt, although he had ceased this activity once investigations into his claims commenced (does this make sense?). She said her client admitted he had failed to declare his correct circumstances to the council and the DWP and by his guilty pleas accepted his guilt. Ms Jewell said that Mr Polat was a family man with a number of chronic and very serious health problems, that he was of previous good character (the fraud ran for six years and only stopped because he was shopped) and that he had made arrangements to repay all the benefits he had falsely claimed.

In sentencing, the chairman of the bench told Polat that the offending passed the threshold for immediate custody but due to the mitigation offered by his solicitor, the sentence would be suspended. Polat received a four month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, with a requirement to undergo 12 months supervision by the Probation Service. He was also ordered to pay costs to the council of £240.00.

Leeds fraud brothers back on benefits

Two brothers who pocketed £225,000 in the biggest benefit fraud case of its kind in Leeds are back on state handouts after being released from jail.

Javeid Akhtar and Banaras Ali wove a 10-year web of deceit to claim the sum from Leeds City Council and the DWP.

Since their release, the pair have already cost the taxpayer at least another £12,000.

More

Reduced benefit fraud sentence for mother

Emma Pettett, previously known as Emma Addyman, appeared before Eastbourne magistrates earlier this month and was sentenced to 12 weeks in custody suspended for one year and ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

She got away with claiming Housing Benefit from September 2004 to April 2007 as a single parent even though she had failed to declare that she was the legal owner of the house where she was living. She received £10,889 in benefits to which she was not entitled.

In sentencing her, the magistrates said it was a planned offence that went on for a long period of time. They suspended the period of imprisonment and gave her 150 hours only of unpaid work because she has a duty of care towards her three children. She was also ordered to pay also ordered to pay full costs of the case amounting to £593.

Benefit fraud prosecutions the tip of the iceberg

That's certainly true in Enfield.

In 2008/2009 the Housing Benefit Investigation Team prosecuted 9 people for benefit fraud, administered 74 cautions and 21 Administrative Penalties. The Housing Benefit Investigation Team identified that more than £578,000 was fraudulently claimed in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, which is now being recovered.

Data matching stops 4 year £32k benefit theft

A woman has been given a suspended jail sentence after she admitted fraudulently claiming more than £32,000 benefits.

Nicola Finch, 31, failed to disclose she was working while claiming the cash for four years.

She was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work, when she appeared at Manchester Crown Court.

She had pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining housing and council tax benefits, and income support, between April 2005 and March last year.

Investigators uncovered the offences using data-matching exercises designed to detect fraudulent and incorrect benefits payments.

But for four years it seems to have been easy. How much more of this is going on?

Sentence for £6k benefit fraud

A former Guildford resident has been sentenced after fraudulently claiming £6,646 in housing and council tax benefit from Guildford Borough Council.

Attilio Magni, previously of West Horsley, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to providing a false rental value which inflated the amount of benefit that he received. Mr Magni was given a 200 hour community service order. The Council will pursue repayment of the overpaid housing and council tax benefit.

No punishment for benefit fraud

A BENEFIT cheat who claimed £7,500 had her jail sentence suspended at Basildon Crown Court.

Michelle Samuels, 31, of Yardley, Basildon, admitted producing false documents, failing to declare her partner was living with her and failing to declare earnings from her job to claim the housing benefit in less than a year.

Samuels was handed a six- month prison sentence, suspended for two years, a one-year supervision order and was told she must pay the full amount of overpaid benefit back.

Two frauds here and life goes on.

Judge condones benefit fraud

A MOTHER-OF-FOUR who cheated taxpayers out of more than £66,000 during a six-year benefits fraud has walked free from court.

Jacqueline Poole from Thornaby was spared an immediate prison sentence after judge ruled that the money was spent only on "household necessities".

Poole claimed to be a single mother to collect Income Support, housing benefit and council tax relief between 2002 and September 2008.

Teesside Crown Court heard she was, in fact, living with a partner who was in work.

Her lawyer, Peter Wishlade, told the court that she received very little money from her boyfriend, and relied on benefits to make ends meet.

When she first claimed State hand-outs, Poole was living alone, but the claim became fraudulent when her partner moved in with her.

An investigation by officials revealed that the man used the address for car insurance, finance agreements and a home-shopping catalogue. Investigators also mounted a surveillance operation at the house, and watched the man leaving regularly, and his car parked outside.

James Kemp, prosecuting, said Poole continually denied he lived there in interview until she was confronted with the surveillance evidence.

She later said the man - the father of her youngest child - spent his pay on himself and his mates, and contributed little to the household.

"She said she wished to maintain some financial independence for herself and children," Mr Kemp said. "That bid for financial independence cost the taxpayer £66,403."

Mr Wishlade told Judge Peter Armstrong that the partner - they are now separated - had problems with alcohol, drugs and gambling.

"She was desperate, as many mothers would be, to provide for her children," Mr Wishlade added. "He was not providing anything.

"Although he was working, his response to the household bills was to say 'I will pay for the television' and the rest of his income went to the benefit of Ladbrokes, Coral, various breweries and drug dealers."

Poole, of Hawthorn Avenue, Thornaby, admitted two charges of failing to notify a change of circumstance at an earlier court hearing.

She was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work.

Poole wept as Judge Armstrong told her: "I have come to the conclusion that despite the large amount of money involved, it is appropriate to suspend the inevitable custodial sentence."

He added: "There has to be custody as a deterrent to you and anyone else who thinks it is appropriate to fiddle the taxpayer to this extent.

"Had it been that this money was being spent on an increased standard of living in your household, I have no doubt the public would be expecting you to be sent to prison immediately.

"The reason you would not have been entitled to them would be on the basis his income would contribute to the household, but it seems clear that he wasn't to any significant extent.

"The benefits you obtained unlawfully simply kept being spent on household necessities."

Congratulations to Solihull Council

Solihull Council have shown openness by listing not only benefit fraud court cases for December, but also administrative penalties and cautions, to help voters get an overall view of their sanctioning. This openness is important, and good as far as it goes, so well done.

Other councils, please copy. (Comments in italics are mine.)

• A 25 year old woman from Chelmsley Wood was prosecuted after a successful joint investigation by Solihull Jobcentreplus and Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report to either organisation that her partner, who was in full time work, had moved into her property and they were living together as man and wife. She appeared at Solihull Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to report changes in her circumstances. She was given a six month supervised Community Order. She is also having to repay the £5,850 Housing and Council Tax Benefits and Income Support overpaid to her.
  
  
• A 53 year old man from Castle Bromwich accepted an Administrative Penalty following a successful joint investigation by the Council’s Benefit Fraud Team and Job Centre Plus Fraud Team. He had failed to declare to either organisation that he had returned to full time work. In addition to repaying the Housing and Council Tax Benefit overpayment of £389.92 and Income Support of £554.63, he has to pay the Administrative penalties totalling £283.35.
  
  
• A 32 year old woman from Kingshurst accepted a Formal Caution after a successful joint investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team and Jobcentreplus. She had failed to report that her partner was resident who was in full time employment. In addition to this she is being asked to repay the £3476.94 Income Support, Housing and Council Tax Benefit Benefit over paid to her. She's unpunished for a four figure fraud.
   
• A 54 year old Solihull woman was prosecuted after a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report an increase in her earned income and had also failed to declare that her resident daughter had started working. Proceedings were taken under Social Security Administration Act 1992 at Solihull Magistrates Court when she pleaded guilty to the charges. She was handed a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £50 costs. We don't know how much she stole.
   
• A 46 year old Solihull woman was prosecuted after a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had dishonestly failed to report that she had started working and received Tax Credits. Proceedings were taken under Social Security Administration Act 1992 at Solihull Magistrates Court when she pleaded guilty to the charge. She was handed a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £50 costs. Here's another instance where the tax credits database should have communicated automatically with the council. It's unfair to people on benefits not to do this.
   
• A 25 year old Solihull woman was prosecuted after a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report that her earnings had increased together with Tax Credits. Proceedings were taken under Social Security Administration Act 1992 at Solihull Magistrates Court when she pleaded guilty to the charge. She was handed a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £50 costs. Another case of non-communication between government agencies. We're not told how much she stole.
   
• A 37 year old woman from Kingshurst, Solihull accepted a Formal Caution on 1/12/2009 following a successful investigation by the Council’s Benefit Fraud Team. She failed to declare to the Council that her husband was in receipt of job seekers allowance resulting in an overpayment of Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit of £1,075.04. Again unpunished.
  
  
•  A 41 year old Solihull woman was given a Formal Caution after a successful investigation by Solihull Council. She had failed to report increases in her earnings and Tax Credits . This has resulted in an overpayment of £1458.56 which is now being recovered. Again unpunished.
   
• A 37 year old woman from Chelmsley Wood was prosecuted after a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report that she had started to receive an additional income - tax credits. She pleaded guilty to the offence of failing to report a change in her circumstances, at Solihull Magistrates Court. She was given a six month supervised community order and had to pay costs of £200. In addition, she is also having to repay the overpayment of Housing Benefit of £5,730. More non-communication.
   
• A 27 year old woman from Kingshurst was given a Formal Caution following a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report a change in her circumstances, namely that she started to receive Working Tax Credit. This resulted in an overpayment of Housing and Council Tax Benefit totalling £889.77 which she is now repaying. Yet more non-communication.
   
• A 25 year old woman from Castle Bromwich was prosecuted after a successful investigation by Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. She had failed to report changes in her circumstances, namely that she was in receipt of additional income – student finance and earnings from part time work. She pleaded guilty at Solihull Magistrates Court and received a two year conditional discharge and had to pay costs of £100. In addition, she also has to repay the £5,921.31 overpaid Housing Benefit.
   
• A 33 year old man from Chelmsley Wood was prosecuted after a successful joint investigation by Solihull Jobcentreplus and Solihull Council Benefit Investigation Team. He had failed to report that he had started full time employment whilst claiming benefits .He appeared at Solihull Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to report a change of circumstances. He was given a 12 week Community Order to include a curfew between 9pm and 7pm and ordered to pay £100 costs . He is also having to repay £1621 Housing Benefit and £295 Council Tax Benefit overpaid to him.

Another housing benefit fraud gets a light sentence

A man who illegally claimed more than £2,000 in benefits in Radlett was ordered to pay the money back at Watford Magistrates Court on Friday.

Giovanni Finco claimed £86-a-week in housing benefit between September 2008 and April 2009 for a flat on Craigweil Avenue. However, he only lived there for two weeks and, in failing to notify Hertsmere Borough Council when he moved, Finco, 41, was able to claim a total of £2,408 for the Radlett flat.

Finco, now living in Harpenden, was given a conditional discharge after reversing a not guilty plea meaning he could be re-sentenced if he commits a crime in the next 12 months.

He was ordered to repay the money in £50 monthly instalments as well as £150 costs to the prosecution.

Councillor John Graham said:

This is Hertsmere’s seventh successful prosecution for benefit fraud following investigations by the council’s Anti-Fraud Team since April 2009.

We hope this sends out a clear message that Hertsmere has zero tolerance for benefit fraud and we will continue to use all our powers to recover money from those who try to cheat the system.

Would that this also applied to Watford Magistrates.

Trivial punishment for housing benefit fraud

A 35-year-old St Clears man has been prosecuted for falsely claiming £2,640 in housing benefit.

Christopher Weeks pleaded guilty to failing to declare a change in circumstances.  He had claimed housing benefit with his partner and children at a rented property near St Clears, from November 2008.

In September 2009, Carmarthenshire County Council began an investigation into his claim for housing benefit. It was established that Weeks had vacated the property in March 2009 and had since moved to Bridgend.

He was fined £115 and ordered to pay £307 costs. He will also have to repay all of the overpaid benefit.

Slow prosecutors stop trial going ahead

A senior judge has blamed prosecutors for the collapse of a case against two Aberdeen pensioners accused of a £53,000 benefit fraud.

Sylvia Caldwell, 68, was alleged to have faked medical problems while working as a cleaner, while her husband, Andrew, 70, was spotted on a golf course after claiming he could not walk without a stick.

The alleged offences dated back to 1995 and attempts to bring the Caldwells to trial were dogged by legal complications. After hearing from lawyers at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh last month, Lord Osborne, sitting with Lords Reed and Philip, refused to allow the Crown any more time to continue the prosecution.

In a written finding, the judge blamed the Crown’s “casual attitude” for failing to bring the couple to trial.

More

h/t Dave

Light sentence for benefit thief who kicked drink problem

Marc Bangs, from Hutton, falsely claimed benefits totalling more than £25,000 between July 2003 and July 2007, despite holding down a steady job as a tarmacer.

Recorder Glancy said he was minded to send Bangs to prison, before he heard a glowing testimony from his probation worker, Allen Murray. Mr Murray told the hearing Bangs had worked very hard to tackle his literacy problems and was a good father to his 14-year-old son. Mr Murray said: “He now has a settled home life and has tackled a former drink problem.”

Bangs, who has been signed off from work with a back problem, has now started to pay back the benefits at the rate of £20 a week. That will take over 24 years, even without interest.

He was given concurrent nine-month prison sentences for each of the offences, and told they would be suspended for two years.

He was given a separate community order for falsely claiming income support when he appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court in July last year.

Two cleaners steal £70k in benefit fraud

A couple conned the state out of £72,300 in benefits and spent the money on holidays to Turkey, luxury goods and even setting up their own company.

William Stone, 61, and Diane Ward, 63, also accumulated £15,000 in savings by the time officials detected their fraud after a tip off.

Lancaster Crown Court heard Stone had initially made a legitimate claim for incapacity benefit in 1996 due to illness when he was living in Leeds.

But he recovered a year later and over the next 12 years years without telling officials from the DWP he held down 13 cleaning and labouring jobs for agencies and employers in the building and cleaning industries.

With the cash he formed his own contract cleaning company BJ Cleaning Services and in 2006 moved to the seaside resort of Morecambe.

The couple even had a contract to clean for Lancaster City Council at taxpayers' expense whilst Ward illegally claimed handouts in income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit and pension credit.

They spent some of the money from the fraud on holidays to Turkey, a luxury caravan, upgrading their car and a 52-inch plasma screen TV.

During the fraud Ward entered her claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, falsely claiming to be renting the couple's caravan from BJ Cleaning Services.

Stone also falsely claimed Ward was a tenant on a Landlord Declaration form issued by the council to verify her claim. It wrongly claimed he was her landlord, and that she was paying £500 a month in rent.

Surveillance footage showing Stone and Ward as a couple, cleaning holiday lodges. They were arrested shortly after they returned from holiday in Turkey and they were said to have made a full confession.

Stone was jailed for 20 weeks and Ward for 18 weeks after both admitted benefit fraid charges. The court heard caravan has been repossessed and the pair are now living in a rented flat in Morecambe.

Judge Norman Wright told the pair: "Both of you were part of a long-term systematic assault on the benefits system. It is not the revenue that is the loser - it is the general public."

After the case Peter Hamer, DWP fraud operations manager, said: "This investigation arose due to the receipt of information from the public.

"In addition to the sentences imposed by the court, the Department will also now take steps to recover the benefit falsely obtained, to ensure this couple does not benefit financially from their criminal activity".

htp Dave

This is lamentable. The fraud went on for 12 years and would still be going on today if it hadn't been for a tip-off. And they even had a Council contract. Does no one check anything?

If two cleaners can accumulate £72,000, benefit fraud can't be very difficult.

Light sentence for £68k fraud

A 44-year-old Shropshire woman who conned the DWP and Telford &Wrekin Council out of more than £68,000 has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Bernadette Adams admitted evading liability by deception by failing to declare she was living with her partner Thomas Spate between February 28, 2001, and February 2, 2009, relating to housing costs and council tax.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court she was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison for both charges, suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

Joanne Griffiths, for Adams, said: “She is a lady of previous good character. She is a law-abiding lady who desperately cares for her family and knows she has let them down.” She is not "a law abiding lady", she is a thief who deliberately stole from us for eight years.

Recorder Nigel Daly said: “You have stolen over £68,000 over a period of time. I appreciate that when you started your claims they were quite genuine.

“There is no doubt that this sort of benefit fraud, of this sort of period, in these sorts of sums crosses the custody threshold.”

After the case DWP investigator Mark Pickering said: “No one should think they can get away with benefit theft. DWP and local authority investigators are working together to track down those guilty of stealing money they are not entitled to.”

• And then they get a ridiculous sentence like this.
  
  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.

Daughter fraudulently claimed £10k

Samantha Farmer, from Weoley Castle, has been sentenced to an 18 month community order with a requirement to carry out 160 hours unpaid work after pleading guilty at Birmingham Magistrates Court to failing to declare that her landlord was related to her.

Farmer failed to tell the council that her landlord was in fact her father. If she had told the truth she would not have been paid the £10,433 she fraudulently claimed.

Detailed report of a blue badge fraud

A company director who went to extraordinary lengths to fraudulently obtain a disabled person's parking permit has narrowly avoided being sent to jail after magistrates said her dishonesty was "serious, persistent and premeditated".

Zebunishia Gani had been fraudulently using an expired blue badge that belonged to her husband. She was also caught attempting to gain her own by feigning a serious disability.

Her scam failed because she was already under investigation by the council's permit fraud team who had witnessed her happily walking long distances whilst carrying heavy shopping bags.

In court the 64-year-old from Streatham pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and deception. Magistrates told her that normally she could expect to go straight to prison, but they were willing to be lenient in view of her age and guilty plea.

She was given a one month prison term suspended for six months, ordered to wear an electronic tag and observe a 9pm to 7am curfew for three months. She was also ordered to pay the council's prosecution costs of £850.

The court heard that Mrs Gani's dishonesty first came to light in April last year when fraud investigators spotted a black Mercedes parked in a disabled parking bay in Rookstone Road, Tooting. The expiry date of the Lambeth-issued badge left on the dashboard had been crudely altered from August 2004 to August 2009.

Checks showed that that badge had been issued in 2001 to Mrs Gani's husband Aboobaker. Further investigations revealed that it was being regularly used by his wife to park in the same disabled bay while she went to work in Boyds - the shop the couple own in Mitcham Road.

When witnessed she was always on her own, had no difficulty walking, used no walking aid and had parked the car some distance from the entrance to the shop. The same forged badge was also later seen in a blue Mercedes parked in nearby Brightwell Crescent. This car was impounded by the council and the badge seized.

As the investigation continued it emerged that Mrs Gani had also illegally applied for her own blue badge from Wandsworth - by fraudulently using her business address in Tooting instead of her home address in Lambeth.

On her application form she claimed she couldn’t walk 25 metres without stopping or experiencing severe discomfort. She said she had to use a walking stick and a letter from her GP confirmed that she needed a walking aid and could not walk more than 50 metres without needing a rest.

Unfortunately for her, the council had already filmed her walking more than 100 metres without using a stick and in no sign of distress.

As a result, Mrs Gani was called in to the town hall for an assessment by an occupational therapist. On that occasion she appeared to be so disabled that she couldn’t walk ten metres even with a stick and aided by a family member.

A few days later however she was seen shopping in Balham High Road without any problems. She was carrying heavy shopping bags and walking with no impairment and no stick.

Just after this she went shopping in Tooting Sainsbury’s. She parked in a disabled bay before wandering easily around the store. She was filmed walking briskly back to her car with her shopping, having been on her feet for around half an hour, without using a stick, or being assisted by anyone. She then drove to the disabled bay in Rookstone Road before walking back to her shop with her heavy carrier bags.

Mrs Gani was then called in for a second assessment. She was filmed leaving her home, happily walking to her car swinging her stick in the air. She climbed behind the wheel and drove off en route to the town hall with her husband in the passenger seat.

When she arrived, she had switched to the back seat and her ability to walk had suddenly deteriorated. She had to be helped out of the car and could not walk without leaning heavily on her stick. She stopped every few paces to catch her breath and complained of constant pain and breathlessness.

As a result she was called in for a formal tape-recorded interview. She arrived with her solicitor, who at the start of the interview, read out a prepared statement reiterating that Mrs Gani could walk no further than 25 metres and that she had been advised by her physiotherapist ‘to occasionally try to walk without my stick’.

At this point, she was shown the covert filming of her shopping trips and from then on answered "no comment" to all questions and allegations put to her.

The council's transport spokesman Guy Senior said: "This case demonstrates the lengths some people will go to hoodwink and con their way into getting a blue badge. Mrs Gani deserves an Oscar for her dramatic performance.

"Abuse of the blue badge system is rife, unwittingly supported in some cases by GPs who are themselves conned into signing letters confirming a patient's mobility problem without any real evidence to back up such a claim.

"It is left up to councils to tackle this form of fraud and I am happy to say here in Wandsworth we have a proven track record of catching those able-bodied motorists who callously and selfishly take away disabled parking bays from those who genuinely need them."

Short curfew for £6k benefit thief

A Downley woman who falsely claimed £6,207 in benefits she wasn't entitled to has been fined by a court.

Julie Greenacre was given a 15 day curfew order and made to pay £400 in costs to Wycombe District Council.

She failed to declare on her claim form that she had two ISA accounts and was receiving maintenance. About a year later, when she was visited by a council officer to verify her circumstances for continued receipt of benefit, she signed a statement which failed to declare her ISA accounts and the fact that her maintenance had increased.

The council is pursuing the the repayment of the overpaid benefit as a separate matter.

Speaking after Monday's hearing, Wycombe District Council’s Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Property and Procurement, Cllr Roger Colomb, said: “We are delighted at the positive outcome for the council and for the district’s residents that another benefit fraudster has been prosecuted.

Shame you can't say the same about the slap on the wrist sentence.

Fahd El-Hajj jailed

A benefit cheat and failed asylum seeker who scammed £43,000 but was caught when he left £10,000 in a drawer after moving home has been jailed for nine months.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard Fahd El-Hajj pretended he was a penniless student while working as carpenter earning up to £75,000 to claim Housing Benefit from Camden Council.

Background here

Deport him.

Camden Council slow on blue badge fraud

Camden Council have fined just six motorists for falsely displaying a disabled blue badge - despite seizing 162.

Blue badge fraud is rife in London with passes being sold for up to £2,000 and costing local authority untold amounts in lost parking revenue.

The Audit Commission estimates each blue badge used fraudulently costs taxpayers as much as £5,000 a year.

London Councils and Transport for London say lost, stolen and fake badges are increasingly being used by ineligible motorists.

A new database was launched two years ago allowing traffic wardens access to a list of lost or stolen badges and to issue cheats with parking tickets or have vehicles towed away.

In the latest crackdown by Camden Council and parking contractor NSL and the Vehicle Crime Working Group over 2,000 disability passes were checked and nearly 200 seized.

Six fit and healthy motorists were prosecuted for illegally using disabled parking permits and fined a total of £3,522 for abusing the blue badge system, while 57 cases have been referred to the Council’s legal department for further action.

Wembley woman fined for blue badge fraud

AN able-bodied woman has been fined for fraudulently using her father-in-law's disabled blue badge.

Gita Ladva, from Wembley, was fined £350 and made to pay £350 in costs, as well as a £15 victim surcharge.

Brent Council's Audit and Investigation team swooped when a member of the public spotted her displaying the badge in her car before walking to Preston Road underground station.

They discovered that Mrs Ladva was using the badge of her disabled father-in-law, Lalji Ladva, to park in Preston Waye, the nearest disabled access parking to the tube station.

Despite her husband Dhiresh Ladva initially claiming that his wife had used the badge when travelling with her father-in-law on the tube, further inquiries revealed that any travel by the father-in-law could have been traced through his use of his Freedom Pass, and eventually Mrs Ladva confessed she had misused the badge.

So her husband committed perjury.

Conditional discharge for £12k benefit thief

Rachel Field, from Tamworth, failed to declare she had started working part time and illegally claimed £12,076 in housing benefit, council tax benefit, income support and carers allowance.

She was handed a two year conditional discharge at Tamworth Magistrates’ Court. She was also ordered to pay £725 costs on top of paying back £12,076.

Councillor Robert Pritchard, portfolio holder for corporate governance, said: “We are taking a strong stance when it comes to benefit fraud as it is a serious crime which affects all taxpayers.”

What a shame Tamworth magistrates disagree. Effectively they've said: go away and don't do it again.

Benefit thief had NHS pension

A woman has pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming just over £21,000 in housing and council tax benefit, report Blackburn Council.

Jane Harrison applied for housing and council tax benefit without disclosing that she was already receiving an occupational pension from the NHS. From December 2003 to February 2009 she fraudulently obtained £17,316 in housing benefit and £3,792 in council tax benefit. (Data matching? What data matching?)

She was given an eight month suspended sentence and a two year supervision order.

Councillor Colin Rigby, executive member for resources, said: “Since April 2009 we have handled 667 referrals of suspected benefit fraud and have prosecuted or imposed alternative sanctions in 117 cases. Last year we detected over £400,000 in falsely claimed benefit."

More employment fraud

Asebbe Leikun Birhanu, from Rochdale, was given a 12-month community order to do 60 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £100 towards costs after pleading guilty to four charges of dishonestly failing to notify the council and DWP about two periods of employment while he was claiming benefits.

Birhanu, who was claiming housing benefit, council tax benefit and Jobseekers’ Allowance, fraudulently claimed total of £1163 in benefits from the council and £1309 in JSA while working full time for an employment agency.

Unpaid work punishment for £11k fraud

Sandra Parkes, from Woodrow, has been sentenced to a six-month community order and 100 hours community payback - which is unpaid work - for fraudulently claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit totalling £11,239. She was also ordered to repay £5,000 of the overpaid benefit through a compensation order, with Redditch Council recovering the rest directly from her.

She made the false claims over a period of nearly four years - between December 2004 and November 2008 - by failing to declare that she was working at a care home throughout this time.

A pre-sentence report had been requested at a previous magistates court hearing when Mrs Parkes was warned that she could face up to three months in prison because the offences were serious and had continued for such a long period of time.

Scout leader thieved benefits

A SCOUT leader who claimed he could not walk without a stick is a benefit cheat, after investigators watched him marching to a cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

Ian Allerton was caught walking three miles to and from Meir cenotaph with 6th Dresden Scouts during a parade.

DWP investigators exposed Allerton (video):

Walking with a backpack and without a stick on a five-mile hike with his scouts in Oakamoor;

Bending down to load collection buckets, thought to be full of cash, into a car;

Walking unaided out of a shop carrying a bag of shopping.

The 37-year-old, who had been legitimately claiming disability living allowance for 10 years, had pleaded not guilty to failing to declare a change in his circumstances. But he was convicted, told to repay the £3,174 he had been wrongly paid, and given a 60-day community order.

Allerton said he still deserved the benefits: "My medical condition hasn't changed. They saw me trying to make life better. They didn't see the after effects – being in bed for three or four days in real pain."

North Staffordshire Magistrates heard that Allerton had been legitimately claiming benefits since finishing work in 1997 after hurting his back in an accident at work in 1991. In his benefits application, Allerton had said he felt sick walking short distances, needed to use a stick and had difficulty cooking, because he could not bend down to the oven.

But the DWP received an anonymous tip-off and watched him from November 2007 to October 2008. This is for £3,000.

Rachel Thompson, defending, said: "He states that although he could do certain things on some days, he wouldn't be able to do it every day. He felt there was no requirement to notify the DWP."

Allerton was also given a 60-day curfew to stay indoors between 9pm and 7am and must pay £250 costs.