Benefits cheat given community order after claiming over £6,500

A benefits cheat has been sentenced to a 12-month community order after claiming over £6,600 she was not entitled to.
Picture: PAPicture: PA
Picture: PA

Michelle Tribe, 42, formerely of Bolsover, but now living in Dinnington, had claimed £6,679.60 in Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support and Jobseekers’ Allowance.

A joint investigation between Bolsover District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), uncovered that Tribe had failed to declare she had been living with an employed partner at an address at Oxcroft Lane, Bolsover, and at a former residence on Partridge Green, Witham-St-Hughes, Lincolnshire.

She pleaded guilty at North East Derbyshire and Dales Magistrates’ Court and was given a 12-month community order with a requirement to undertake 80 hours unpaid work, pay court costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £60. She was sentenced under Section 111A (1A) of The Social Security Administration Act 1992 and also has to repay the monies she falsely claimed.