Benefit Fraudsters Imprisoned
By Laeeq Beg, Operations Manager at Birmingham City Council www.birmingham.gov.uk
When you’re the largest local authority in the land managing the risk of benefit fraud is a key priority for Birmingham City Council. Overpaid benefits totalling £2.51 million were unearthed last year by the fraud-busting team from Birmingham.
In the last financial year, 630 cases of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit fraud came to light and were prosecuted or sanctioned. Since April this year the team has taken legal action against 180 benefit fraudsters and unearthed a staggering £950,000 in overpaid benefits.
Nationally £21.9 billion is spent annually on Housing and Council Tax Benefit, so reducing the impact of fraud is key to the council – which deals with claims for 147,500 people at a cost of £542 million annually.
At any one time the council’s team of investigators has 2,000 investigations ongoing as part of its effort to ensure that finances are protected, at a time when purse strings are being tightened across the public sector. These are just two examples of the cases put to the Courts by the team.
Case Study 1 – 6 months in Prison
Benefit claimant prosecuted for deliberately hiding the facts that her landlord was her son, clearly she has no rights to benefit. Over seven years she claimed £31,602 from the City Council. His Honour Judge Morris, Birmingham Crown Court said “Over a number of years you have stolen money from the tax payer. That was greedy. For every pound stolen, someone else must do without. The poor, the weak, the vulnerable, are your victims. Your crime was fraudulent from the outset and has resulted in a loss to the tax payer of just over £30,000. This is serious enough for a custodial sentence. I have read the pre-sentence report, but I see no reason why your sentence should be suspended”.
Case Study 2 – 4 Months Custody
Not only does this claimant claim for a property he owns, he puts himself down as a landlord of a property where the mother of his children claims from. The City Council paid him £16,433 over four years.
His Honour Judge Morris, Birmingham Crown Court said when sentencing: “These kinds of frauds steal from the poor, the needy and the infirm. They are crimes of sheer greed. I give you credit for a guilty plea, although it is a shame that this was not given in the lower Court. You are not a man of good character. You have stolen nearly £17,000. The sentencing guidelines suggest a prison sentence. I see no reason why you should not be punished properly. This matter was one of calculated fraud.”