New Year brings benefits for District Council team

Date:  12 January 2006

Three Rivers District Council's fraud investigations team has got 2006 off to a good start.

Convictions were recently achieved against two local people for benefit fraud, making a good start to the year - over £75,000 was recovered by the team in 2005 as a result of benefit fraud convictions.

On Friday 6 January, Mr Mariwan Sabir pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining Housing and Council Tax Benefit amounting to over £3,000. Mr Sabir had been awarded benefits as he had declared he was receiving Job Seekers Allowance, but failed to declare that he had been in employment since 1 December 2004.

Mr Sabir received a 60-hour community punishment order and was ordered to pay costs of £150.

In an earlier case, Mrs Shirley Riley was convicted on 16 December of making misrepresentations on her application for Housing and Council Tax benefits - her application raised the suspicions of Council staff and was passed to the fraud investigations team. As a result, her application was never processed.  Mrs Riley was fined £150 and ordered to pay £100 costs.

Councillor Richard Struck, Resources portfolio holder, said:
"These latest prosecutions demonstrate our vigilance in protecting the community against benefit fraud, at every stage of the process. The Council takes benefit fraud very seriously indeed and we will not hesitate to take action against it. That said, however, we strongly encourage any residents experiencing genuine financial difficulty to contact us, as there are a variety of ways we can help."

For more information on claiming benefits and financial help, contact the District Council on 01923 776611 or visit www.threerivers.gov.uk.

Any residents who suspect that someone they know could be committing benefit fraud can contact the Council's fraud investigations team in complete confidence on 01923 727190, email fraud@threerivers.gov.uk or complete a benefit fraud referral form available on the Council's website at www.threerivers.gov.uk.