Benefit “snoopers” in Dundee have been criticised after a disabled man who unwittingly defrauded the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) out of almost £8,000 was dragged through the courts system.
The 50-year-old, who The Courier has chosen not to name, had accumulated the savings over the years due to his quiet lifestyle, with his benefit payments eventually taking his savings over the benefit limit.
When DWP investigators found out, they knocked on his door and told him he had broken the law. The alarmed householder immediately took steps to repay the cash but was flabbergasted when told he was to be prosecuted.
The disabled man, who walks with the aid of a stick, had to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court last week, where Sheriff Tom Hughes agreed with his defence solicitor that it had been a genuine mistake and the accused had been completely unaware of his “crime”.
He had admitted failing to declare his savings and had therefore claimed benefits totalling almost £8,000, but Sheriff Hughes granted him an absolute discharge after hearing the explanation.
Solicitor Ian Houston told The Courier: “My client told me he doesn’t have any close relatives so he wanted to save up enough money to pay for his funeral.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that this reached the stage where he was brought to court.
“He has no previous convictions, he had worked all his life until contracting a degenerative disease affecting his bones and muscles and had to give up his work as his condition worsened.
“He lives alone, he doesn’t drink, smoke or gamble and he hardly ever goes out. His benefits are paid directly into his bank account.
“I have six years of his bank statements to prove that his savings accumulated from that and no other source.
“He was completely unaware that it would affect his benefits until the DWP found out and told him he was over the limit, he had been paid that money to which he was entitled over the years, he hadn’t spent it and when notified he went straight to the bank and repaid the money.
“It was a lot of money to him and effectively he has saved the Government nearly £8,000.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “It is the procurator fiscal who will make a decision to prosecute.”
Absolute discharges are only given in exceptional circumstances and usually only for the least serious offences such as very minor thefts.
It means there is no punishment and it does not appear as a conviction on the accused’s record.