A St Helens woman claimed she was paying rent and failed to disclose £15k deposited into a bank account, while living in Widnes, a court heard.
Natalie Hallwood, aged 31, of Anne Grove, St Helens, pleaded guilty at three offences after a prosecution by Halton Borough Council. The offences occurred when she was claiming benefits whilst living at 15 Whickham Close, Widnes.
There were two counts of making a dishonest representation to obtain benefits relating to her rental obligation when in fact she did not pay rent.
And one of dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances in relation to a cash deposit of £15,000 received into her bank account
For this she received concurrent sentences of 36 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months with 100 hours of unpaid work. She also had to pay £100 victim surcharge.
Natalie Hallwood pleaded guilty on 9 May 2017 at Liverpool Crown Court. She was sentenced on 2 June 2017 at Chester Crown Court.
The overpayment value for sentencing is £13,202.40, which is broken down as follows:
Housing Benefit: £11,230.30 (Period: 21.05.12 – 23.02.14)
Council Tax Reduction: £1,972.10 (Period: 21.05.12 – 23.02.14)
Cllr Mike Wharton, Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board Member for Resources: “The Council continues to place great importance upon detecting Housing Benefit fraud, as indicated by the fraudulent overpayments it has uncovered over recent years, to ensure that only those who are correctly entitled to receive Housing Benefit do so and the public purse is not defrauded.”