A young mother who illegally claimed almost £13,000 in benefits has been ordered to perform 200 hours of unpaid work for the sake of her children.
Kelly Young admitted failing to give prompt notification of a change in her circumstances to Fife Council and the Department of Work and Pensions over a 19-month period.
The 25-year-old failed to tell them her partner had moved into her Glenrothes home and continued to claim housing benefit and tax credits.
She was given a community payback order at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
Her defence solicitor Michelle Renton told the court Young had split from a previous partner in March 2014 and began “validly claiming” the money.
When she formed a new relationship the following year, she did not tell the various agencies.
Ms Renton said: “She was on her own with her young son who is now six.
“She then developed a relationship with a new partner and she accepts she should have made a phone call to the HMRC and Fife Council although he hadn’t properly moved in.
“He was going between her house and his mother’s house but she accepts that the majority of the time, he was at her home hence the failure to give prompt notification.”
She told Sheriff Alastair Thornton that Young was a first offender who was in full-time employment and that “she’ll not be back into the criminal world”.
The solicitor added: “It started off as a valid claim.
“There’s a five-month-old breastfeeding child and a six-year-old who would have to go live with his dad in Aberdeen which would cause pretty significant disruption to the children.”
The Sheriff decided not to jail Young and instead placed her on the community payback order. She was given 240 hours of unpaid work discounted to 200 for her guilty plea.
He added: “Make sure you don’t come back before the court, Miss Young.”
