South Staffordshire Council will take appropriate action against any person or group proven to have committed benefit fraud. This includes prosecution through the criminal courts. On average we prosecute at least one case of benefit fraud per month.

Each case investigated will be treated on its own merits and we can offer alternatives to prosecution in those cases deemed to be less severe. These alternatives are;

• Administrative Penalty (fine of 30% of money fraudulently obtained)
• Local Authority Formal Caution

We will name those people successfully prosecuted for benefit fraud on the website and in the press and we will vigorously recover the benefit which has been fraudulently obtained using all methods available to us, including;

• court action
• freezing bank accounts and assets
• seizing goods

We will actively undertake prosecutions with other government departments, so that the courts can see the full value of the fraud committed and any sentence passed by the court can reflect this value.

Contact Details

Benefit Fraud Hotline

Telephone: (0500) 658008

Email: benefitsinvestigation@sstaffs.gov.uk

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