Leeds mum shamefully swindled £25,000 in Universal Credit claims
She failed to declare thousands in savings
A mum spent years claiming benefits after failing to declare she had tens of thousands in savings.
Joanne Lawson was overpaid by £25,131 in Universal Credit until it was discovered she had several bank accounts that she failed to inform the authorities.
The 47-year-old admitted failing to declare her financial circumstances and appeared at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard that the mother-of-three made false claims for more than three years, between December 2021 and April 2025.
It was under the agreement that she had no income and no savings.
Following an investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it was found that she had four bank accounts, one of which contained £22,000.
When interviewed she said she did not realise she needed to declare the money and had “a lot going on” in her life.
Lawson, of Woodbridge Crescent, Kirkstall, has previous convictions, it was heard.
Mitigating, Olivia Fraser said Lawson pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and looks after her toddler daughter, meaning she would be taken into care if Lawson were to be jailed.
She said that she has already entered a repayment plan to pay back the money.
The judge, Recorder Simon Jackson KC, said he was “persuaded” to suspend her sentence because a probation report found that she had “turned her life around”.
He gave her eight months’ jail, suspended for 18 months.
A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) timetable was set in a bit to recoup the money she received.