A MOTHER of three who fraudulently claimed more than £9,000 in housing and council tax benefit was fined £200 after magistrates decided she had made a "careless mistake".
Bolton magistrates heard that Yasmin Jolly, whose first language is Urdu, had asked staff at Bolton Town Hall for help in completing a 22-page benefit claim form because she did not understand parts of it.
Andrew Whittaker, defending, told magistrates that even though the form was only available in English the council told her they were unable to help.
Jolly, aged 40, of Dorking Close, Halliwell, asked her husband's friend for help in completing the form and filled in "no" to a question asking if she or any other member of her family owned any other properties.
She signed a declaration vowing that the information was correct.
Andrew Morris, prosecuting, said the Bolton Council had received information in July last year, two months after the form was submitted, that her husband had a property in Blackburn Road.
A check with the Land Registry revealed her husband, a self-employed taxi driver, had owned the property since October, 2003.
Mr Morris said the false claim had brought the family an extra £7,644.06 in housing benefit and £1,417.47 in council tax benefit.
"There's a large amount of trust involved. Local authorities rely on these forms being completed honestly," said Mr Morris.
He said Jolly, who also claims incapacity benefit and child benefit, had been interviewed in relation to other benefit matters earlier that year before completing the form.
Mr Morris said that although no action had been taken as a result of the interview, she had been told of the need to disclose all information.
Mr Whittaker said: "She did not understand she had committed an offence and says she is an honest person. She admitted she had savings on another part of the form.
"Through a lack of understanding and a reliance on others, who through a mistake or otherwise, she has been led to commit an offence. She is wholly ashamed to be before the court."
Magistrate Angela Brookes told Jolly: "We have decided that your error was a careless mistake, but a mistake it was."
Jolly was fined £200 and ordered to pay costs of £390. The court was told she had already repaid about £4,000 of the money falsely claimed and Mrs Brookes said it was one reason the sentence had not been harsher.
A council spokesman said: "We value the diversity of the local population and we want our services to be accessible to everyone.
"Our records show the customer's partner did have an interview booked with an adviser, who spoke the same language, for help filling in council tax and housing benefit forms.
"Unfortunately, the adviser was off sick but we offered an interview using the Language Line telephone interpreting service, which provides fully qualified interpreters.
"An interview was conducted but was terminated at the request of the interviewee.
"The service was offered on a second occasion and refused again.
"We make every effort to ensure speakers of other languages receive help filling in their forms but if help is offered and then refused there is only so much we can do."
The council said tax and housing benefit forms were not available in Urdu but there were instructions in Urdu and Gujerati for people who needed help filling the form in.
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