Supply teacher sentenced for benefit fraud

A supply teacher from Manchester has been sentenced to 3 months in prison, suspended for two years, after admitting a £20,000 benefit fraud.

42-year old Shaheen Khanum, from Longsight was sentenced after pleading guilty, at an earlier hearing, to fraudulently obtaining housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support amounting to £20,607.

Khanum had failed to declare that she periodically worked as a supply teacher and as a result was overpaid benefits from Manchester City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions between September 2003 and March 2008.

The fraud was uncovered by officers from Manchester City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions as part of an exercise using intelligence gathered by the DWP Hidden Economy Team.