Man wrongly claimed benefit

A Carmarthen man has been prosecuted for wrongly claiming almost £4,000 in benefits.

Peter Grufydd Evans pleaded not guilty to failing to report a change of change of circumstances and of making a false statement, contrary to Social Security Administration Act 1992 but was convicted in November.

He was due to be sentenced on December 8 but failed to attend and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Evans was sentenced at Llanelli Magistrates Court last Thursday for the two offences. The prosecution was brought by Carmarthenshire County Council.

The court heard that 43-year-old Evans had been awarded Housing and Council Tax Benefit at a private tenancy in Deveraux Drive, Carmarthen. He was awarded the benefit from August 29, 2011, on the basis he was working as a chef at Brasserie, Carmarthen.

A national data-matching exercise identified that Evans had been employed as a retained fire fighter by Mid & West Wales Fire Service from October 7, 2011, which had not been declared to the Benefit Section.

The overpayment due to failure to declare these earnings was £3,206.72 Housing Benefit and £710.53 Council Tax Benefit, a total of £3,917.25.

Evans appeared before District Judge Parson and was sentenced to a 12 month Community Order with 90 hours unpaid work to run concurrent for each offence. He was also given 40 hours for a bail act offence to run concurrently. He was ordered to pay £500 towards prosecution costs.

Council executive board member for resources Cllr Jeff Edmunds said: “The county council wants people who are entitled to Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit to claim what they are rightfully entitled to.

“However, we are also determined to crack down on fraudulent claims. These offences take money from the public purse that could otherwise be used for funding essential services. It is taking money from every council tax payer.”

Members of the public can report any suspicion of benefit fraud in the county via the Carmarthenshire County Council Fraud Hotline 0800 – 801116 or via the council website.