Purton cheat's "£2,300 benefits from Wiltshire Council (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Purton cheat's "£2,300 benefits from Wiltshire Council

9:00am Saturday 30th April 2011 in Swindon

A 54-year-old man has been convicted of defrauding Wiltshire Council out of thousands of pounds in benefits.

Kenneth Hutchinson of Willis Way, Purton, pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming more than £2,300 in housing and council tax benefit at Chippenham Magistrates Court last week.

Hutchinson was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay the council’s court costs of £300.

Lucy Simms, a spokesman for Wiltshire Council said: “Mr Hutchison had failed to tell the council he had started work and his Jobseekers’ Allowance had stopped.

“This resulted in an overpayment in housing and council tax benefit of £2,306.65.

“The council is very keen to stamp out benefit fraud and will take action against those found to be cheating the system.

“This case was brought to court following a benefit fraud investigation by Wiltshire Council.”

It is the responsibility of the person claiming benefit to tell the council of any changes in circumstances which may affect their entitlement.

If there is any doubt, Wiltshire Council’s benefit team can be contacted on 0300 456 0100.

Anyone with information that can help catch a benefit cheat should call the council’s confidential hotline on (01249) 706256 or the National Fraud Hotline on 0800 854440.

Benefit fraud can be reported confidentially to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/benefitfraud