The Outrageous

Apparently Government Ministers are ‘outraged’ that fewer than 1 in 20 of those convicted of Benefit Fraud are sent to prison, laying the blame on ‘soft-touch’ courts.

Tory MP Pritil Patel is reported as saying ‘It is vital the courts start getting to grips with this problem’ and that those who rip off the system should be ‘properly punished’. Johnathan Isaby of the Tax Payers’ Alliance is reported as saying ‘it is deeply worrying that that so few are sent down’.

Both these gentlemen, and the ‘outraged Government Ministers’ aught to take a close look at the Sentencing Guidelines for Benefit Fraud imposed on the courts by these same ‘outraged Ministers’ and passed through Parliament by none other than the said MP Priti Patel.
Most Benefit Fraud is for sums less than £12,500 and falls into the category of ‘not fraudulent from the outset’, ie they were originally claiming benefit legitimately but continued to claim even after they became ineligible, for example by finding work.

Such a one was Stephen Stockton who fraudulently claimed benefit totalling £5,631 between October 2009 and March 2011 by failing to declare that he was working as a fork-lift driver.

Or those who acquire a live-in lover, like the woman who failed to notify the authorities that her working husband had returned to the household and fraudulently claimed £6359

In both of the above the amount fraudulently obtained was less than £12,500 and the Government tell us that in such cases we must impose a medium level Community Order, which is what the courts did, and what so ‘enrages’ those who seek to blame others for their misdeeds.

It is galling to be criticised by the Government, MPs and their ilk for carrying out their orders, if ‘they’ want the courts to impose sterner sanctions, for this and any other form of crime, then tell Ken Clarke to build more prisons and free the courts from the shackles of these ‘Sentencing Guidelines’.