Client Guilty of Benefit Fraud Avoids Prison

Case study summary

Our client was charged with Benefit Fraud after it was alleged that she failed to disclose a change in her circumstances to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs Tax Credit Office.

Case study

It was alleged that our client failed to disclose a change in her circumstances to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs Tax Credit Office. It was also alleged that she submitted false documents to Salford City Council when claiming Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction and submitted false documents to the Department for Work and Pensions when claiming Income Support and Universal Credit. This resulted in an over payment totaling approximately £80,000.

Our client was devastated to have found herself in this situation and was adamant that this was done out of mistake rather than deceit. She did however plead guilty to the offence after understanding she should have disclosed their change in circumstances as this would have reduced her entitlements.

Due to the large amount that had been over claimed, there was a risk that she would go to prison. It was important for us to make sure this did not happen as she had young children that needed her. We spent a lot of time building our case in order to present a woman who had made a mistake rather than the alleged fraudster she was alleged to be.

Our hard work paid off and she was given a 14-month suspended sentence meaning she was able to go home to her family and move forward with her life.