£13,000 a month?

[MingeofDeath]

Apparently, at one point she was receiving £13,000 pm. That can't be true can it?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/08/christina-pomfrey-falsely-claimed-1m-pounds-benefits-jailed-manchester

It’ll probably include the cost of adaptions/equipment or care she has received.

She was claiming under 2 names with fake ID by the sound of it as 'making articles for fraud'.
So all personal benefits x 2. All carers benefits × 2, all claimed adaptations, vehicles x2 etc.

It adds up.

Benefits can be a fair amount; my mum is on the highest level for her benefits due to having huntingtons; she gets just under £2000 a month. That is the highest rate I believe though. Perhaps she had a backpayment? I'm a nurse and have had patients who have received thousands in one payment due to delays in them being paid their benefits. So the £13,000 could be a one off due to this reason.

It's not just what it costs in financial benefits awarded to the person, but the background costs of their claimed disability. So the cost of a frauduently claimed wheelchair, vehicle or social care funded transport, adaptations to the home or their claimed needs at appts, carers paid for by social care etc.

The Mail article said £1million over 15 years, I can’t see how that is possible.

Easily possible. People don't understand how much social care costs.

Another thing I can’t understand is how can you fool a doctor into believing you are blind?

@ ToothFairy. I agree, she must be a bloody good actress.

Call me cynical, but how did she get away with this for fifteen years. It's hard enough to get disability payments when you are actually disabled. I had to jump through hoops to get uc and pip for my daughter and even now it has to be reviewed every three years. That's either gross incompetence in the DWP and somebody should be fired or they let her get away with it so they could get the benefit fraud headlines when they prosecuted and thus 'prove' everyone claiming is committing fraud. Either way it doesn't bode well for disabled people.

@ToothFairyNemesis I have no idea either. However we once had a patient on the ward who was in the queue for a guide dog....because they were registered blind. However the patient was no more blind that me. Bad eyesight and slightly visually impaired yes, however after watching them closely over their admission with us, let me assure you, they were not even close to being blind. I guess one can present themselves as much more visually impaired than they actually are and that in itself is enough to become registered blind as 'registered blind' doesn't only cover completely blind but also extremely visually impaired.

Thanks for explaining @michelle1504 that makes more sense.

Her fraud was £66 000 per year, divided between two separate claims so around £33 000 a year per claim.

It's still a staggering amount of money but i can see how the support for someone who was genuinely as disabled as she claimed to be would be high.

@Onetraumaatatimeplease

Call me cynical, but how did she get away with this for fifteen years. It's hard enough to get disability payments when you are actually disabled. I had to jump through hoops to get uc and pip for my daughter and even now it has to be reviewed every three years. That's either gross incompetence in the DWP and somebody should be fired or they let her get away with it so they could get the benefit fraud headlines when they prosecuted and thus 'prove' everyone claiming is committing fraud. Either way it doesn't bode well for disabled people.

It's easier for fit people to jump the hoops because they're not dealing with the daily exhaustion of the illness or condition

@ToothFairyNemesis

The Mail article said £1million over 15 years, I can’t see how that is possible.

If she managed to get the absolute highest rate of everything going, which would be extremely difficult, then it's easily possible on two claims

If she had Incapacity Benefit/ESA, plus the highest levels of DLA and then the additional premiums for the most severly disabled people then you are looking at 20k a year. So 300k x 2 claims right away.

Then you have carers allowances (and any associated benefits claimed there), housing benefits, council tax benefits, free prescriptions, free dental care, free opticians and glasses. Before you even get into adaptations, any home care or the likes.

@michelle1504

Benefits can be a fair amount; my mum is on the highest level for her benefits due to having huntingtons; she gets just under £2000 a month. That is the highest rate I believe though. Perhaps she had a backpayment? I'm a nurse and have had patients who have received thousands in one payment due to delays in them being paid their benefits. So the £13,000 could be a one off due to this reason.

So sorry to hear about your Mum x

@lyralalala I am in receipt of the highest rate of pip, but that is just over £400 a month. I don’t get anything else so I didn’t realise it could be so high.