Published on 2 July 2008
Mrs Sharon Houston formerly of Longcrofts, Waltham Abbey pleaded guilty at Epping Magistrates’ Court on 6 June 2008 to four offences of knowingly making false claims on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit forms. She was fined £300 for one offence with no separate penalty for the other three and was ordered to pay £150 towards the Council’s prosecution costs. The overpayment of Benefit amounting to £5,865.90 to which she was not entitled to will be recovered by the Council separately.
In October 2005 Epping Forest District Council received an application form from Mrs Houston for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit in respect of a property in Manor Road, Chigwell for her and her husband. Sharon Houston re-applied for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit when she and her husband were given temporary accommodation at Norway House, the District Council’s Homeless Persons’ Hostel at North Weald. Both benefits continued to be paid to the Houstons when they moved to a property in Longcrofts, Waltham Abbey in October 2006.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are means tested to help people on a low income to pay their rent and Council Tax. Applicants must fill in a claim form on which they are asked to declare financial details to determine how much they are entitled to.
Between February 2005 and July 2006 on four separate claim forms Sharon Houston failed to declare that her husband was employed and how much he earned, so Epping Forest District Council proceeded with the prosecution against Mrs Houston.
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