Residents warned over cheating benefit system

PEOPLE in Worcester have been reminded of the dangers of committing benefit fraud after two people were prosecuted for not declaring changes in their circumstances.

Nick Jefferies, head of South Worcestershire Revenues and Benefits Shared Services, said it was not worth trying to play the system and that people that chose to would be prosecuted.

His warning came after two city residents pleaded guilty to charges of benefit fraud at Worcester Magistrates Court on December 8. Tasha Hawkins, 41, of Alma Street, pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to disclose that she was living together as husband and wife with a partner - the father of her two children - at two separate addresses in Worcester between March 2009 and June 2010. During that period she received a total of £12,708.18 in overpaid benefits. She was sentenced to a six-month curfew order covering the hours of 7pm to 7am, and ordered to pay £100 costs.

Michael Drinkwater, 57, pleaded guilty to three charges, two of which related to his failure to disclose two periods of paid employment between July 2009 and October 2010. The third charge was over his failure to disclose that his care and mobility needs had decreased. As a result he claimed £10,010.80 in overpaid benefits. Drinkwater, who now lives in Frenchay, Bristol, was sentenced to a curfew order of 20 weeks covering the hours of 7pm to 7am, and ordered to pay £100 costs. Both Hawkins and Drinkwater have also been ordered to repay the full amounts that were fraudulently claimed.