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Barrister claimed council tax support

September 25, 2019, 2:29 am
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A barrister who said she needed help paying council tax for 17 months earned nearly £40,000 in that time.

Asma 'Sky' Bibi has been hit with a 7pm to 7am curfew after being found guilty of failing to notify Manchester council of a change in her financial circumstances.

Miss Bibi, from Ancoats, claimed council tax support over a 17-month period, despite earning almost £40,000 in that time.

Miss Bibi was initially found guilty in December 2018 following a trial at Warrington Magistrates' Court. She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,020 costs. She later appealed against both the sentence and conviction.

Last Friday at Chester Crown Court, that appeal was dismissed and a judge increased her sentence, handing her a 12-month community order and a 28 day curfew with £2,585 costs.

In a statement, Manchester council said:
A practising barrister was convicted on Friday, September 13, of failing to notify the council of a change in her financial circumstances. 
Miss Asma 'Sky' Bibi was charged with an allegation that between April 13, 2015 and September 6, 2016, whilst in receipt of council tax support, as part of the council tax reduction scheme and for the purpose of obtaining a reduction in council tax, she failed to declare or provide any notification of a change in her circumstances, namely that she had undertaken gainful employment and had undeclared income in the sum of almost £40,000, knowing that the change in those circumstances would affect her entitlement to a reduction or the amount of reduction under that scheme. 
Miss Bibi was in receipt of council tax support on the basis that she was in receipt of benefits and was not working or in receipt of any other income and which resulted in an over payment of that council tax reduction during that period of £1,105.24.
Ms Bibi's profile on the Juriosity website says she was called to the bar in November 2007 and describes her as self-employed.

When contacted by the Manchester Evening News the Bar Standards Board, which regulates barristers, declined to confirm if it was looking into Miss Bibi's case.

A spokesman said: "The BSB does not comment as to whether or not it has received any information about potential misconduct by a barrister. Such matters are dealt with in accordance with the procedures set out in detail on our website. These procedures are usually conducted confidentially unless they result in a listing for a disciplinary tribunal hearing. Such listings are published on the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service website and hearings are held in public."

The Manchester Evening News has attempted to contact Miss Bibi.

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64 Birmingham homes recovered in fraud crackdown

September 27, 2019, 12:07 am
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Dozens of Birmingham homes have been recovered and hundreds of housing applications cancelled due to fraud, a report has revealed.

It comes on the back of a warning the city council faces a £4m black hole by the end of the year if the homelessness crisis continues and the authority has to keep forking out to put families up in bed and breakfasts. In 2018/19 the council's corporate fraud team recovered 64 homes worth an estimated £6m in housing stock.

They also cancelled 212 housing applications prior to letting and stopped two Right to Buy applications.

The council's annual fraud report stated that homes were recovered when they were 'not being used as intended' such as when a false application had been made or the property had been illegally sub-let.

Council auditor Neil Farquharson said: "There are obvious social benefits in ensuring that only those with the greatest need are allocated social housing, but there is also a real financial saving from preventing and/or stopping social housing fraud, particularly in respect of providing temporary accommodation, and losing valuable housing stock through fraudulent Right to Buy applications."

The corporate fraud team also investigates fraud relating to its council tax reduction scheme and council tax exemptions. They made £559,534 worth of adjustments to council tax last year. Additionally they identified £858,202 worth of Housing Benefit overpayments.

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Mothers who pretended to be single get suspended sentences

September 27, 2019, 4:00 am
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A mother of three who scrounged over £50,000 in state handouts by claiming she lived on her own insisted she carried on claiming because her live-in boyfriend would disappear for 'days at a time' with his friends. Marie Hayes, 36, had illegally pocketed welfare payments for more than three years by falsely telling officials she was a single parent - when in fact long term partner John Gavigan was living with her at their family home.

She was given six months in prison suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 220 hours of community service.

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And a benefit cheat who lied about being single so she could pocket nearly £30,000 from the state has narrowly avoided jail. Mum-of-three Diana Young, 59, lied about not being in a relationship for four years and eight months to claim employment support allowance. But she came unstuck after she and her partner made a claim for joint tax credits, where they described themselves as a couple on the form!

Young was sentenced to 22 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months. She will also be under curfew from midday to midnight which will run for four weeks.

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So they can carry on living their lives.
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DWP nodded through fatuous claim

September 28, 2019, 1:00 am
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Read this and ask yourself, what does it take for the DWP to refuse a claim?

A mum stole £15,000 of benefits by claiming her disabled son was "hiding in the loft" when he had actually moved 7,000 miles away to the Philippines.

June Roberts lied to the authorities to bankroll Paul Roberts, 45, who had in fact jetted off to Southeast Asia to start a new life.

The 65-year-old, from St Helens, acted as the appointee for her son, who has schizophrenia, when making claims on his behalf in 2016.

Paul was said to be unable to work through ill-health and to have both severe mobility difficulties and significant care needs.

His Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP) were paid direct into his bank account.

But he booked a flight to the Philippines in May 2017 - where he then married - and never came back to Merseyside.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) rang Mrs Roberts in a review of his case that July.

She claimed he couldn't come to the phone because he was "hiding in the loft" and the dishonest scam continued undetected.

Paul continued to regularly withdraw cash in the Philippines until the DWP was alerted to a possible fraud and stopped his benefits.

On November 9, 2018, Mrs Roberts was interviewed and asked if she knew her son had moved to the Philippines.

She claimed: "Not really. Because Paul lives at home, he's at home now."

Mrs Roberts then conceded he may have been on holiday there for a few weeks, before admitting he had married out there.

The officer asked why she hadn't told a DWP official in the July phone call that her son was really halfway across the globe.

She said: "I can't remember. I honestly thought he was upstairs in the loft because I shouted down to him to answer the phone."

Roberts, who now admits this was yet another lie, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. She has no previous convictions.

Zillah Williams, defending, said her client had back problems but assured the court she was willing to do suitable unpaid work. She said Roberts had already paid about £4,000 back to the DWP and that she "made no financial benefit from this whatsoever".

Ms Williams said: "She feels extremely let down by her son, who has absolved himself of any responsibility it appears, even though he was the one who took himself out of the country, against her better wishes, and has made no contribution to repay her. Mr Roberts who sits at the back of court is equally dismayed by his son's actions."

Ms Williams said Roberts was made her son's appointee in 2007 and couldn't remember signing the form to do so.

Judge McKone handed her a 12-month community order with 180 hours of unpaid work.

Simon Tunnicliffe, of the Crown Prosecution Service's Fraud Unit, said Roberts committed a "substantial fraud":
Her claims to have told her son to come down from the loft to answer the phone when he was in fact in the Philippines were ludicrous. He'd been withdrawing cash from the Philippines and it was clear his mother was helping him. 
She'd contested a rejected PIP claim on the basis that Paul couldn't move about at all. He was living in another continent.

As Paul's appointee, she was responsible for letting the authorities know if his circumstances changed. She didn't and may never have done so if the authorities hadn't caught up with her.
A Proceeds of Crime timetable has been set up to recoup the money that was dishonestly claimed.

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Claimant said she was a single parent

September 29, 2019, 4:00 pm
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A woman from Burgess Hill has been convicted of benefit fraud after failing to disclose, for two years, that she was no longer a single parent living alone, according to the district council. Mid-Sussex District Council said Briony Nunne, 27, dishonestly claimed more than £18,600 in income support.

Mrs Nunne was claiming support from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and council tax support and housing benefit from the district council 'on the basis that she was a single parent living alone', a spokesperson said.

However, in February 2017, she married Michael Nunne and 'failed to tell relevant authorities about her change in circumstances'.

The spokesperson added: "The DWP received a fraud allegation on June 16, 2017 stating that the claimant and her partner has been together for at least two years. A subsequent investigation revealed this to be the case and the DWP prosecuted Mrs Dunne for benefit fraud."

The district council said that, on August 13 this year, Mrs Nunne pleaded guilty at Horsham Magistrates Court to dishonestly making a statement or representation to the DWP and Mid Sussex District Council with a view to obtaining a benefit, advantage or other payment.

The spokesperson added: "Mrs Nunne was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which requires her to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community. She was also given a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement, ordering her to complete activities that are designed to reduce the prospect of her re-offending.

"The court ordered Mrs Nunne to pay the DWP costs of £170 and a victim surcharge of £85."

Mrs Nunne is also required to pay back all the overpaid income support, council tax support and housing benefit, the district council confirmed.

Councillor Ruth De Mierre, cabinet member for customer services said: “The council will always take firm action against the very small minority of benefit claimants who seek to cheat and be a drain on the wallets and purses of our law abiding Mid Sussex residents.

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Councillor committed social housing fraud

October 26, 2019, 2:33 am
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A former east London councillor has been warned he could face jail for a decade-long housing fraud that was uncovered while he was in office.

Muhammad Harun, 49, remained on the Tower Hamlets social housing list while owning a property within the borough and another in neighbouring Barking.

Harun, a solicitor, cost the council about £125,000 which could have been spent on housing vulnerable families for the duration of the con.

It only came to light seven months after he was elected as a Tower Hamlets councillor in May last year. He resigned his seat during an inquiry.

Harun admitted two offences of housing fraud last month and was told by a judge yesterday there were “no promises” he will be spared jail next month.

Snaresbrook crown court heard Harun had claimed assistance under the Homelessness Act 2002 after being evicted in 2006.

The next year he bought a house in Lancaster Avenue, Barking, for £230,000 while still registered in social housing in Tower Hamlets.

Judge English warned him he faces jail because of the length of time the fraud went on for and the number of housing claims he made.

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Benefits claimant pretended she was disabled

October 27, 2019, 3:55 am
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A woman who falsely said she was disabled but was seen dancing at a wedding has been jailed for claiming benefits worth £260,000.

Nasreen Akhtar also said she was a single parent but was caught living with a partner, prosecutors said.

She claimed the fraudulent "complex raft of benefits" between 2002 and 2013 based on being a single parent with poor mobility who was too ill to work.

The 50-year-old was caught following covert surveillance after a tip-off.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said police discovered she had a partner when they found him in her bed during a raid on her home in 2013.

Also, while she claimed she was "too ill to work" and had "poor mobility" and "significant care needs", she was seen out and about with her family, and dancing at a wedding, the CPS added.

Akhtar, from Oldham, admitted seven counts of fraud against the local authority and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

At Manchester Crown Court she was jailed for two years.

Simon Tunnicliffe, of Mersey Cheshire CPS's fraud unit, said the case went "way beyond the average".

He said it took three years to bring a case against Akhtar as she had attempted - "at further cost to the taxpayer" - to have herself found unfit to stand trial.

"Earlier this year we brought even more compelling evidence that Ms Akhtar was trying to hoodwink the court and the judge decided that she was fit and well enough to stand trial," he said.

Akhtar later pleaded guilty to a total of seven counts of fraud.

The CPS said Akhtar had claimed housing benefit and council tax relief as a single parent for a house she rented, when she had actually owned it jointly with her partner.

She also claimed income support as a single parent when she owned other properties and had significant savings, it added.

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How Birmingham is tackling social housing frauds

October 27, 2019, 5:00 pm
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This explores behind the recent revelation that sixty-four Birmingham homes had been recovered in a crackdown on housing fraud.

Amidst a housing crisis in the city with 13,000 people on the waiting list including around 3,000 families in temporary accommodation, every single home has become an extremely precious commodity. So it is scandalous that scores of perfectly good council houses are being abused every year - some just abandoned, while others are utilised for criminal enterprises such as cannabis farms.

But since 2010 the city council has ploughed significant investment into tackling the issue, with investigators using everything from light bulbs to library cards to detect fraud.

"It's always been there," said Neil Farquharson group auditor at the council, "But we have become more and more sophisticated and put more resources into tackling the problem.

"We realised how valuable a council property is, the amount of people we have got in temporary accommodation is growing and growing, therefore the more effort we can put into recovering properties and stopping people getting tenancies fraudulently, the better. Is it getting worse? It's difficult to say, but the housing crisis in the city is only going to exacerbate the problem."

In the past, illegal sub-letting grabbed the headlines being a major problem in London where property prices are notoriously high. It also prompted the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act in 2013. But that issue is 'rare' in the second-city where 'non-residency' is the most common type of housing fraud. This can often occur when people meet new partners and spend time living with them instead, or maybe move to a different part of the city or country for work.

Typically, tenants will also be in receipt of housing benefit which means they can stay away knowing their rent is covered. Is it naivety or an intentional abuse of the system?

"It's a mixture of both," said Mr Farquharson, "A lot of the cases we get are because a person's personal life has changed. There is a degree of naivety but also some people fully know what is expected of them and they will go ahead anyway."

Right to Buy, the government scheme which gives council tenants of three years or more significant discounts off the purchase price of a home, has also created an 'incentive' to obtain a council property. It has driven fraudulent housing applications whereby people may lie about the make-up of their household, falsely claiming there are six people living in a one-bedroom flat when there are only two, for instance.

Then there are the fraudulent housing applications themselves, when people will purport to have less than the £16,000 capital threshold which would render them ineligible. At the more extreme end of the scale, homes have been completely abused and used to grow drugs on an industrial scale.

"You will get cannabis farms that's one of the problems, that has been the case in Birmingham," Mr Farquharson lamented.

So how does the council go about tackling the problem? Partly, there is a reliance on tenant's neighbours reporting suspected misuse of a property. But over the years the authority has also developed a 'pioneering' anti-fraud data warehouse. It is essentially a mega-system which captures all of the data across the council to 'get a picture of a person' including council tax records, benefits records, licensing records and even library card forms.

"If we look at a housing application and somebody says they are living at an address in a particular part of the city we can say 'well actually according to your library card you don't live at that address, and according to your benefit records there's another inconsistency' so straight away it identifies anomalies," Mr Faquharson said.

It has become an incredibly efficient tool allowing for 'real-time matching' of information within 24 hours of a new housing application. The task then is for investigators to build up enough evidence to reclaim a property, which can take anywhere between three to 18 months.

Mr Farquharson said: "We speak to neighbours and say we haven't seen that person in the property for a long time. We have also got the power to request utility providers to tell us how much gas and electricity a person has used in a given period.

"We use industry averages as well, and can say 'your usage suggests you have had one light bulb on for the last two years, don't you put the heating on, the cooker on, the television on? So we build a case of evidence."

In some cases, the information is sufficient to cancel housing benefits and the prospect of a backdated bill is enough to cause tenants to surrender the keys without fuss. In other instances they may fight it.

Figures suggest that the fraud team is now getting ahead of the problem. While the number of homes being recovered is declining from 87 in 2017/18 to 64 last year, and just shy of 30 so far this year, the amount of cancelled applications is going in the other direction. There were 152 applications stopped before letting in 2017/18, increasing to 212 last year, while there have been more than 400 already in the current financial year.

High-profile results over the years, have also helped highlight the issue of housing fraud. Among them was Sonia Hunter who was awarded a 70 per cent discount on her Right to Buy purchase of 45 Attenborough Close, but failed to declare that she owned a home in Court Lane, Erdington. In 2014 she was given a 10-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay the council £23,545 through the the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

In the same year concerns were raised about senior council housing officer Zara Danyaal, from Acocks Green. An investigation established she used fake identities and personal information to submit and process six fraudulent housing applications between 2011 and 2013.

Danyaal was jailed in June 2016 for three years - 30 months for one count of housing fraud and six months for two offences relating to job references. She was also ordered to repay £20,000. Her other Samara Malik, who was not employed by the council but awarded one of tenancies, was sentenced to ten months for one count of housing fraud after supplying false information.

Then there was Mbarak Awdah Abdallah who was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment - having already been jailed for another offence - and ordered to repay £18,990.30. He had gained the tenancy of 4 Milston Close in Druids Heath, after claiming a 'landlord' had ordered him to vacate his home at 191 Chinn Brook Road, Yardley Wood - a property, which it transpired Abdallah owned himself and had been renting out.

"If you are committing housing fraud we are getting more and more sophisticated with our detection methods, we will find you and there is legislation there that means we can prosecute you," said Mr Farquharson.

"To the members of the public, social housing fraud isn't something we should tolerate, we shouldn't be denying people who genuinely deserve social housing. If you believe somebody isn't using their property as their sole main residence, you should report it."

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Mother not jailed over £70k benefits fraud

October 28, 2019, 5:00 pm
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A mother of three has been spared jail over a £70,000 benefits fraud.

Samantha Butters, 36, pleaded guilty on the day of her trial to four charges of dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstance affecting entitlement to various benefits and one count of fraud in relation to tax credit.

Bradford Crown Court was told she failed to declare her former partner had moved back in and had been living with her at her home in Odsal.

The court heard most of the money was used to pay off debts but some of it went on Butters' expenses on a family holiday to Spain paid for by her former partner's parents.

Nadim Bashir, prosecuting, told the court: "She had nine opportunities to inform the benefits people of her true circumstances."

He said Butters and her former partner did nothing to hide the fact they were living together with pictures of the family posted on Facebook, while he gave her address to his employers as his place of residence and his wages were paid into her bank account.

Mr Bashir said that Butters told investigators that she had received letters about her benefit claims but did not deal with them. She denied she and her former partner had set up a common household together.

He said she had no assets and was not likely to come into any assets so that none of the money could be recovered.

Clare Walsh, for Butters, said that her client contested the period of time her former partner had been living with her and said not all the claims were fraudulent from the start.

She said that the couple split in 2009 but he came back on the scene in 2011 but only as a father to their children and a family friend.

She said although Butters let her ex use an account because he was a bankrupt she only transferred money to her primary account to pay for expenses.

Mrs Walsh said: "She's remorseful and wants to move on with her life and learn from it.

"She's a mother of three children with a good reputation."

She said Butters worked four days a week with special needs pupils at school and has "a naturally caring work ethic".

She called on the judge to give her client a suspended sentence because of the consequences imprisonment would have on the family.

Butters was accused of claiming income support to the tune of £11,581, housing and council tax benefits totalling £22,264 and tax credits of £36,450, when her partner lived with her, and carer's allowance of £10,300 for helping with her disabled brother which she claimed despite having a job.

But Butters disputed the length of time that her partner was living with her and that the figures calculated by benefit fraud investigators should have been lower at about £70,000 and that was the figure she pleaded guilty to.

Judge Jonathan Gibson told her: "Some of it was not fraud from the outset but some was. You were dishonest."

He said Butters' youngest child was seven years old and imprisonment would have significant effects on her children.

He sentenced her to 40 weeks' imprisonment suspended for a year, 120 hours' unpaid work and compensation of £1,000 to be paid to the Department for Work and Pensions.

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Conditional discharge for social housing fraud

October 31, 2019, 10:24 am
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A former Crawley resident has been successfully prosecuted by Crawley Borough Council for two criminal offences in relation to council tax and tenancy fraud.

Helen Reed held a council tenancy at Cumbernauld Walk, Bewbush but moved out of her property to live with her husband in Gosport in April 2018. She was also claiming a Council Tax Reduction Scheme award and housing benefit at the Bewbush address.

Council fraud investigators became aware of the situation in August 2018 and began gathering evidence to prove their case.

Mrs Reed was found to be renting accommodation in Gosport while continuing to receive benefits at her Crawley address, which was rented out to her adult daughter. Mrs Reed failed to inform the council about the change in her circumstances and that she was no longer living at Cumbernauld Walk.

Once enough evidence was obtained, Mrs Reed was interviewed under caution at Portsmouth City Council offices by fraud officers from Crawley Borough Council in March 2019, by which time the situation had been continuing for almost a year, leading to substantial council tax and housing benefit overpayments, which she was made to repay.

Additionally, her tenancy was subsequently ended and the property at Cumbernauld Walk was repossessed by the council.

Mrs Reed was summonsed to court for her actions and pleaded guilty to offences under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 and the Council Tax Reduction Schemes Regulations 2013. She was convicted and sentenced to a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay a contribution towards costs.

Unbelievable

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Rochdale still owed £5m+ in overpaid housing benefits

October 31, 2019, 5:00 pm
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Rochdale Council is still owed £5.1m in housing benefits wrongly paid to residents.

The figure represents the total amount of money outstanding – including from previous years – yet to be recouped by the authority.

Overpayments made to people in receipt of the benefit over the last financial year came to £1.9m, while some £330,000 was written off over the same period.

The council says while the overall amount owing is the lowest in Greater Manchester, it will use all the tools at its disposal to recover the money.

Neil Thornton, the council’s director of resources, said: “We take all reasonable efforts to recover any amount due. In certain circumstances this can include deductions directly from future Housing Benefit payments, from DWP benefits or from earnings.”

He added overpayments were only written off by the council ‘after all available recovery options have been exhausted or if the person has absconded and is unable to be found’.

The rules on who is eligible for housing benefit are set by the government and the payments are administered by local authorities.

Overpayments can happen for a variety of reasons, from residents making mistakes or failing to notify a change in circumstances to fraudulent activity.

Nearly £1.8 million in overpaid housing benefits was recovered by the council during the 2018/19 financial year.

Rochdale council is currently facing a budget gap of more than £7m, making it vital to keep the amount of money it loses to fraud and error to an absolute minimum. Mr Thornton said the council has plans in place to ensure this is the case.

He said: “We have a range of preventative measures – these include verifying information from residents with supporting evidence and using a range of data matching sources from DWP, HMRC, landlords and employers,” he said.

“Claims and changes are not processed until appropriate evidence is provided to support the information provided. Changes in circumstances are processed quickly, particularly if these will result in less Housing Benefit being due. In some cases, payment is suspended whilst necessary information is obtained.”

Greater Manchester’s local authorities were owed nearly £100m at the end of 2018/19 according to the latest government figures.

Manchester had the highest amount outstanding – some £27.4m – followed by Wigan and Salford (both £12.8m).

Rochdale (£5.1m), Bury (£5.5m) and Stockport (£5.8m) were owed the least.

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Benefit cheat had money to buy house

November 7, 2019, 11:00 pm
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A benefit cheat squirrelled away enough cash to buy a house while illegally taking £23,000 from tax payers.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Nasera Iqbal claimed to be a single mum with no income or assets and caring for her elderly mother.

On a claim form for income support in January 2013 she stated she had no savings.

But Philip Barnes, prosecuting, told Judge Richard Gioserano that, in reality, in March 2012 she had more than £16,000 in a bank account and by January 2015 the amount had grown to £75,000.

Department for Work and Pensions investigators found the bank account dwindled to less than £100 in January 2016. Iqbal, aged 57, had bought the Bolton house she lives in and had registered it in the name of two of her sons.

Iqbal had denied making a false statement to obtain benefits and two offences of failing to notify a change in circumstances affecting entitlement to income support and housing benefit between 2011 and 2016 but, following a trial at Manchester Magistrates' Court, she was convicted and sent to Bolton Crown Court for sentence.

William Magill, defending told the court that Iqbal had received the money from her husband in Pakistan to buy the house.

At the same time she claimed £10,200 in income support and £12,800 in housing benefit to which she was not entitled.

Mr Magill said Iqbal did not treat the money in the bank account as belonging to her.

"The money that came to her account came via her husband, who she is estranged from and who lives in Pakistan," he said. "They were in an abusive relationship and he was eventually deported on a visitor's visa. He was using the money, in a way, to coerce her into assisting him to gain re-entry to the country."

Judge Gioserano refused to follow a recommendation in a pre-sentence report that Iqbal should be given a curfew.

Instead he handed her a 12 month community order and told her she must undertake 180 hours of unpaid work.

"This was your money, your savings. Whilst you were saving this money to buy a house, which you put into the names of your children, the public were supporting you to the tune of £23,000 which you should not have had," Judge Gioserano told Iqbal.

"You have been dishonest. I don't think it is necessary to send you prison but I do think that you require punishment and the public need to see you punished for this dishonesty."

A proceeds of crime hearing will take place on February 10 in order to force Iqbal to repay the cash.

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Dog owner was benefit fraudster

November 8, 2019, 4:00 am
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A dog owner who claimed she could not walk fleeced £16,000 in disability benefits despite showing off her pooch at Crufts, a court heard.

Dawn Gregory, 56, said she could only move 20 yards at a time following a brain hernia.

But the prize-winning Kennel Club-registered breeder was filmed briskly trotting her pedigree keeshond at the dog show.

Lincoln crown court heard she was listed with the Department for Work and Pensions as suffering headaches, neck and shoulder pain, weakness to her left side and mini-strokes.

But investigators found she was well enough to breed dogs at her £300,000 home in Kettlethorpe, Lincs, and to attend shows, and prosecuted her. The court heard her medical condition was not in dispute.

But prosecutors said she claimed £16,719 at an enhanced rate she was clearly not entitled to.

She admitted benefit fraud and got an eight-week jail term, suspended for a year, and a three-month electronically monitored night-time curfew.

The confiscation of £16,719 of assets was ordered.

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Plymouth's worst recent benefit cheats

November 11, 2019, 3:43 am
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Shameless benefit cheats have fleeced the state out of tens of thousands of pounds with blatant lies.

Disability claimants have been caught training dogs at Crufts, delivering pizzas or holding down two physically-demanding care jobs.

One woman who hid her working husband from the authorities flaunted her cash on a holiday in the Far East.

Most are women.

Here is the list of Plymouth's worst cheats over the last couple of years.
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Man sentenced for benefit fraud and obtaining a false passport

November 17, 2019, 11:14 pm
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A man who cheated the state out of thousands of pounds in benefits and fraudulently obtained a passport has been sentenced. (h/t Dave)

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mohammed Ahmed, 39, claimed £6,762 of Universal Credit to which he was not entitled between February 2018 to January 2019.

Investigations into this led the authorities to uncover other frauds committed by Ahmed.

Ahmed, formerly known as Shirajul Hoque, entered the UK from Bangladesh as a Bangladeshi national born in 1969. Ahmed does not qualify for British citizenship and has never made an application for entry clearance to the UK.

In 2003, he made an application for a passport, under the name of Shirajul Hoque, and provided an old British blue passport as identification. That old passport turned out to be a forgery.

In 2008, he applied for another passport with a change of name deed poll document that changed his name from Shirajul Hoque to Mohammed Shiraj Ahmed. He was issued with another passport.

As a result of the defendant’s application to the Department for Work and Pensions between 6 March 2018 and 7 January 2019, Universal Credit payments amounting to £6,762.81 were paid into his bank account.

In January 2019, Department of Work and Pensions officials searched Ahmed’s house in Station Road, Holmes Chapel, and found the deed poll document and one of the passports.

He was arrested on 15 January 2019. He pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with intent and dishonest representation for obtaining benefit.

The Crown Prosecution Service allowed two other charges, of possession of a false identity document with intent and making an untrue statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport to lie on file.

On 7 November 2019 at Chester Crown Court, Ahmed was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years, and he must surrender his false passport. The decision on whether or not he should be deported has been passed to the Home Office.

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Light sentence for blatant big benefit fraud

November 20, 2019, 4:08 am
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A benefit cheat continued collecting her dead mother’s pension for nearly eight years in a £77,000 fraud, a court heard. (h/t Dave)

Hilary Wilson, 46, a school clerical assistant from Brixton, did not report the death, which happened during a visit to Jamaica and was not registered in the UK.

Inner London crown court heard that Wilson’s mother had her state pension paid into a joint account that she held with her daughter.

The mother of two pleaded guilty to defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions between August 10, 2009 and February 12, 2017. The fraud was exposed in a review of her finances.

Sam Barker, prosecuting, told the court: “It is £77,000 she is not entitled to. She dishonestly received a benefit she was never entitled to.”

Wilson’s lawyer said she was the only breadwinner in the household after her husband died. The court was told she has a daughter, 24, and a son, 10, who both have health problems.

Of course they have.

Judge Ian Darling told Wilson: “You have been very dishonest, but in circumstances that mitigate that dishonesty.”

Wilson was sentenced to 15 months in prison, ­suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 120 hours of community service.

She must also complete 15 days of rehabilitation and the DWP will make deductions from benefits she receives for herself rather than pursue full confiscation.

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The importance of housing fraud

December 19, 2019, 3:01 am
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CIPFA writes

Housing is a fundamental service that UK local authorities have a responsibility to provide.

Councils across the UK offer social housing options for local people based on a variety of factors, ranging from financial strains related to unemployment to above-average rents in urban areas.

For the most vulnerable in society, this public service can be a lifesaver in the most literal sense.

Unfortunately, as with all public services, the housing sector is not immune to fraud and other financial crimes. People can exploit the public housing system, depriving councils of funding by illegitimately participating in state programmes, making those in need worse off.

Fortunately, counter-fraud efforts in council housing are proving effective. The latest iteration of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accounting (CIPFA)’s Fraud and Corruption Tracker (CFaCT) shows that the number of fraudulent cases is decreasing – UK local authorities detected and/or prevented 3,632 instances of housing fraud in 2018/19, a decline of roughly 20% from the previous year and the second year of decline since 2016/17.

Of course all this shows is that detection is decreasing. It may not reflect the underlying level of fraud.

Over the past year, they prevented 652 and 826 cases of Right to Buy and illegal sublet frauds respectively. Furthermore, housing fraud represented 54% of the total value of fraud prevented by local authorities in 2018/19, while making up only 5% of the total estimated number of fraud cases.

While the numbers of Right to Buy and illegal sublet fraud cases declined, ‘other’ types of housing fraud, which includes succession and false applications, held steady at approximately 2,150 cases.

It’s worth noting that the way authorities record the income lost from housing fraud can vary. They may include the cost of putting up a family in a bed and breakfast for several months or they may include the cost of replacing a property entirely.

However, although making these calculations is certainly challenging, they provide a helpful snapshot of local authorities’ effectiveness at tackling this problem.

In recent years, local authorities have stepped up their counter-fraud work in social housing. This has had a big impact, given the low rates of turnover in tenancies in the current social housing stock.

The screening of Right to Buy applications by councils protects valuable housing stock from being sold at a discount to ineligible individuals. This measure, paired with tenancy audits and proactive exercises to detect illegal subletting and unused social housing, is tackling abuse in the sector.

By recovering properties from ineligible tenants, councils can then reallocate housing to those in legitimate need. These controls, along with more stringent checks on all applications, are preventing fraud in the housing stock and reducing the overall level of housing fraud.

It’s a strategy that CIPFA thinks has worked very well – and the figures tell us that councils’ counter-fraud strategies for housing are shifting trends in the right direction.

At CIPFA, we believe our role is to help councils put in place the proper preventative measures, controls, training and governance structures to stop fraud from happening at all. There’s still much to be done across all counter-fraud areas, but this year’s CFaCT report gives us a snapshot of the real progress that has been made on council housing counter-fraud efforts.

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Thee role of fake singletons in total benefit fraud

December 19, 2019, 4:00 pm
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Phantom singletons are set to cost taxpayers more than £10 million-per-week in overpayments, shock figures show.

Ghost claims will balloon to an estimated £580 million within two years for couples who claim to be living apart – but have set up with a partner.

But the bogus singles were last year paid £95 million in Universal Credit, £55 million in housing benefit and £6 million in Jobseeker’s Allowance.

There were also payments for £25 million in Employment and Support Allowance and a further £18 million in Pension Credit, government figures show.

Couples who claim to live in separate homes, often pretending their relationship has broken down, can rake in thousands of pounds in fraudulent payments.

It is due to cost taxpayers £350 million this year.

Duncan Simpson, research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These highlight absurdities in the welfare system. Some people will always be looking good to game the system, and that is made far easier when the referee makes the rules so unnecessarily complex. The government needs to prevent cheating but they can make that far easier by simplifying the benefits bill.”

Recent examples of this fraud that have come to court include mum-of-two Debbie Bowler.

She was paid £30,000 in benefits but was found to have flown off on holiday with the children’s dad for a month-long trip in Australia. Bowler, 41, of Colne, Lancs, had told the authorities that she lived alone but later admitted her partner stayed in the home three nights a week, although they slept apart. She admitted fraud and was ordered to do community service and pay back the cash.

Diana Young, 59, fraudulently claimed almost £30,000 in benefits by saying she lived alone in a home in Hull. However, she was unwittingly unmasked herself when she and her partner put in a joint application for tax credits. She admitted fraud and was given a suspended jail sentence.

Many of the bogus payouts are believed to start life as genuine claims, but then as a person’s personal circumstances change and a partner moves in, they fail to notify the authorities.

The most recent estimates suggest that £2.3billion in benefits was fraudulently claimed in the last year – more than £6million every day.

On top of this another £1.8billion was paid out in error – meaning fraud and error accounted for £4.1billion of last year’s total £184billion benefit bill.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Nearly 97 per cent of benefits are paid correctly so fraud and error is low. We work hard to sort out fraud and error overpayments, recovering more than a billion pounds last year.”

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Universal credit manager stole claimants' payments

December 20, 2019, 4:00 pm
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A woman who assessed people for universal credit has been sentenced for making fake claims and cheating people out of their cash. (h/t Dave)

Rebecca Hanway, 30, of Wigan, admitted defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of more than £18,000.

The claims team manager submitted two fraudulent applications and hijacked five claims to steal money, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

She was sentenced to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years.

Hanway admitted nine counts of fraud by abuse of position at Bolton Crown Court on Wednesday and was also ordered to carry out 200 hours' unpaid work and attend 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

The CPS fraud unit said Hanway, who worked at a universal credit service centre in Wigan, misrepresented her own circumstances on two applications and stole five additional identities before submitting a further five fraudulent claims in their names.

She used her own bank account details to receive the universal credit advance payments and she also diverted advance payments from three other claims into her bank between September 2018 to April 2019.

She accessed the DWP computer system and lied about her own circumstances, the CPS added.

Justine McVitie, of the CPS, said Hanway was "a serial fraudster who abused her position of trust in a government department to cheat the public purse out of thousands of pounds".

She added: "She would have been aware of the many genuine claimants of this benefit who genuinely need the help and support of the state to survive. Yet, despite earning an income of her own, she cheated and lied her way to claiming money she had no entitlement to."

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Benefit cheat exaggerated incapacity

December 28, 2019, 1:00 am
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Lying Dominic Lappin pocketed £75,683 of taxpayer money on the basis he was too disabled to work - while secretly employed as a delivery driver.

Lappin claimed a range of benefits, including Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments, which he was not entitled to.

A court heard he did have a bad back but he had over-egged his symptoms, claiming he was in constant discomfort and could only walk 10 to 20 yards very slowly and had to stop due to pain.

However, since 2013, he had been working as a delivery driver, driving for up to an hour at a time and being seen to walk 100 metres and climb stairs.

Now the 49-year-old, from Walker, Newcastle, caught after an anonymous tip off, has narrowly avoided going to prison after admitting benefit fraud at Newcastle Crown Court.

Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC told him: 'Over a period of almost six years, you claimed various benefits to which you were not entitled and you received them because you told lies to the DWP and the local authority.

'You received PIP, Housing Benefit, Employment Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, all on the basis you said you were not working, had no income or that you were incapacitated. You were telling lies. You had an income from work you were failing to declare and you exaggerated your symptoms as a result of your incapacity.

'Hard-pressed public resources were diverted to you when they could have been used elsewhere, for deserving candidates and other public service. The taxpayer has borne the burden for all of that and it's certainly not a victimless crime.'

Prosecutor Stuart Graham said Lappin had made various claims about the state of his health, claiming he couldn't walk far without help, that he needed help rising from his seat, needed help going to the toilet and going up and down stairs and that he felt drowsy and uncoordinated due to his medication.

Mr Graham told the court: 'He was supposed to inform the department of any change in circumstances or work he undertook. The evidence shows he had been working for Elite Powder Coatings from January 2013 as a delivery driver. He drove for up to an hour at a time, clearly in contradiction to the statement he put forward.

'The company director saw him walk 100 metres and climb stairs without any physical distress and he never saw him use a stick or fall down. He never saw him appear nervous, anxious or drowsy or be unable to carry out his duties.'

Recorder Iqbal said Lappin had claimed to have taken up work to set an example to his children but he warned: 'I hope you are ashamed of yourself, standing in the dock, no doubt your children reading in the local newspaper that their father has been convicted of benefit fraud.'

The judge said he had just been persuaded not to lock him up as it would cost more public money to look after him in jail and it would jeopardise his job and his ability to pay the money back and may have an adverse effect on his children.

He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years with 250 hours of unpaid work.

Brian Hegarty, defending, said: 'The defendant undoubtedly suffered a serious back injury for which he continues to receive treatment to this day. He suffered that in around 2009 while working as a JCB driver. He claimed for benefits and was entitled to then because of his incapacity. The charge is because his condition improved and he failed to inform the agencies.'

He added that the condition was variable and that he continues to use morphine-based pain relief as required and had to take time off work while employed as a part-time delivery driver due to it.

Mr Hegarty said it is possible Lappin would have been entitled to some benefits at a reduced level and was under financial pressure and started working to prove his worth to his family and set an example to his children.

He said he continues to work and rents his home, telling the court: 'He clearly made a terrible mistake.'

The court heard Lappin is paying back his ill-gotten gains at £340 a month and has so far paid back around £4,500.

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