A Brighton couple have pleaded guilty at Brighton Magistrates’ Court to dishonestly claiming more than £9,000 in benefits over a period of more than 18 months.
 
A joint investigation by Brighton & Hove City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions showed that Mark Langford, of Haybourne Road, claimed £6,232.25 in Job Seekers Allowance between October 2007 and May 2009.
 
Mark Langford failed to declare that he was working for a security company throughout virtually the whole of this period. Sandra Langford had worked for the same company on an ad hoc basis from August 2008 onwards.
 
The couple had also dishonestly claimed housing benefit worth £2,179.61 and council tax benefit worth £645.05 between April 2008 and May 2009.
 
Mark Langford was given a Community Order of 250 hours unpaid work, and Sandra Langford a Community Order of 100 hours. Both were ordered to pay £100 towards the council’s costs.
 
The council’s cabinet member responsible for revenue and benefits, Councillor Trevor Alford, said:
“While we all live in difficult times, and I do appreciate and am sympathetic to the financial pressures everyone is under, but this is quite simply theft from the public purse and cannot be condoned or tolerated. It is not fair on the rest of the community who pay their way.
 
“The first rule of benefits is that you have to declare any change of circumstance. With the information sharing systems we now have with banks and businesses as well as other agencies, people need to understand that they will not be able to get away with claiming benefits which they are not entitled to.”
 
In a separate case Gina Budd of 35 Norton Road, Hove, pleaded guilty to falsely claiming housing and council tax benefit of just over £7,000. She was given a Conditional Discharge for three years.

For more information about Brighton and Hove Council view:
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk