Blyth and West/Morgan Saints and Scroungers

This programme tracks down thieves. It exposes fraudsters and it brings help to those who really deserve it.

This is the front line in the battle against benefit fraud.

This is Saints And Scroungers.

Saints And Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves who steal

millions every year and the crack teams of investigators

determined to scupper their devious scams.

And we also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money

and the people who help them get it.

They are our saints.

The saints get help and the fraudsters get their comeuppance.

Coming up on today's show, the single mum on benefits.

But is she living a double life?

It was pretty evident that she was committing

what we call a living together fraud.

Will fraud investigators see through the lies?

I've never heard of an excuse like it so no,

we didn't accept what she said.

We meet a woman who's worked for 20 years but now can't get hired.

I thought that with the years' experience I'd got, I would not have a problem getting a job.

After almost two years unemployed,

find out how her life is turned around by a local saint.

The following week, when I actually applied for the jobs,

out of the four that I applied for, I got two responses.

If you're an unemployed single parent living on your own,

the benefit system is there to help you.

But if you are living with a partner who is working and helping to pay the bills,

you might not be entitled to dip your fingers into the taxpayers' pot.

Not that that seems to stop some people, though.

Croydon, south London, home to Maria Blyth.

Maria is an unemployed single mum.

So, as taxpayers, we all help her out with income support,

housing benefit and council tax benefit.

On average, single mothers receive an extra £100 per week

compared to couples with children, which should mean that Maria

and her son don't suffer undue hardship.

But the shadow of suspicion has fallen on Maria

because officials at the council think her claim

might not be all that it seems.

Over at Croydon Council,

David Hogan runs the fraud investigation Department.

How many people live in Croydon?

The population of Croydon is currently about 350,000.

How many of them are on benefits?

-Just over 42,000 people are in receipt of benefits in Croydon.

-OK.

Quite a lot. Give me an idea of how much payout that is a year.

Erm... For last year,

we paid out a total of £255 million in benefit in Croydon alone.

So the more we can do about fraud, the better it is for the taxpayer.

Croydon Council can't be sure exactly how much money

they lose through fraudulent claims each year.

But they are pretty certain that the £1.3 million recouped by the antifraud department last year

is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg,

which is why they take the business of fraud investigation so seriously.

We've got ten staff here who work solely on antifraud activity.

-Purely dedicated to that?

-Purely just working on antifraud.

And, they leave no stone unturned.

It was another Government department that alerted David

and his team to the fact that Maria Blyth's benefit claim

might not be above board.

What brought Maria Blyth to your attention?

The case of Maria Blyth came to us via an anonymous tipoff

to the Department of Work and Pensions hotline.

An average of almost 700 possible benefit cheats are reported

to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline every day.

Many of these get passed on to local councils.

Croydon Council investigate as many suspect cases as they can

in the hope of clawing back taxpayers' money.

David passed the case on to investigating officer Graham Clark.

It's his mission in life to bust the benefit cheats.

He started by going back through Maria Blyth's claims history.

We discovered that she began claiming income support as far back as 1999.

Her claim for housing and council tax benefit began in 2002

and carried on through until 2007.

On all her claim forms that she had completed,

she stated she was a single parent and did not have a partner living with her.

On the face of it, it's a perfectly normal claim,

except that the anonymous tipoff received by the DWP suggested

that Maria Blyth was not actually single,

but was in fact living with her partner Kevin West.

Graham needed to dig deeper to find out more.

His first step was to identify the father of Maria's child

and find out more about his circumstances.

We made enquiries with the registry office

to establish who the father was.

We obtained a copy of the birth certificate which clearly

showed that both Maria and Kevin registered the birth together

and that they had both given the same address.

So, when her son was born, single mum Maria appeared to have been

living with the father of her child and that man was Kevin West.

But that was 16 years ago and of course,

it was entirely possible that their relationship had now broken down.

Graham needed to find out whether Kevin West was living

at Maria's current address which was on Crowley Crescent in Croydon.

Because if he was,

Maria might be carrying out what's known as a living together fraud.

It's the most common type of benefit fraud.

Claiming as a single person when really,

you're living with a partner.

It's costing you and me, the taxpayer,

more than £74 million a year.

The definition of living together fraud

is that for benefit purposes,

any two people that are living together as a couple,

whether they're married or not, should be treated as a couple,

and that any earnings or capital that the partner has

is taken into account when assessing the benefit.

Sharing a life with someone usually means you're sharing their income

which is why their earnings and savings

as well as your own are taken into account when assessing for benefits.

If two people are living a shared life,

there is a trail of evidence waiting to be found

which fraud investigators have extensive powers to uncover.

We did a credit history check on Kevin West

and we found a number of occasions

where he had made financial applications

for banking purposes

and had quoted Crowley Crescent as being his home address.

So, Kevin was using Maria's Croydon address

on official application forms,

and presumably, he was expecting his mail to arrive there,

which must have been inconvenient if he wasn't actually resident.

But that wasn't all Graham found out about Kevin West.

He made enquiries with a local health trust and strangely,

it wasn't just Maria Blyth who was registered with the local doctor.

Kevin was also registered at the same surgery

and indeed had given Crowley Crescent as his address.

So far, there wasn't much evidence that Kevin West lived

anywhere other than at Crowley Crescent.

And Maria Blyth's car insurance document

proved to be an even bigger giveaway.

The car was registered to Maria but Kevin West was named as a co-driver.

Once again, the paper trail led straight to Crowley Crescent.

We obtained a copy of the proposal form for the insurance

which clearly stated that they were living at Crowley Crescent

and indeed, that their marital status was as a common law couple.

In fact, even Kevin West's driving licence showed that he was living at Crowley Crescent.

Investigators were now pretty convinced that Maria Blyth

was lying about her single mum status.

It was pretty evident that she was committing what we call a living together fraud

and had not declared that Kevin was part of her household.

It's not looking good for Maria Blyth.

She told the Department for Work and Pensions and Croydon Council that she's a single parent

and they're paying her housing benefit and income support on that basis.

But it's starting to look like she's about a single as a double malt.

The fraud team had plenty of written evidence

but they needed more.

It was time for Graham to get out of the office and hunt for some clues on the ground.

In the course of his enquiries,

Graham had found out that Kevin West used to work for a garage called Queen's Motors.

Queen's Motors told us that he'd recently left the company

but they were able to confirm that he had given Crowley Crescent to them as his address

and had named Maria Blyth as an emergency contact

and next of kin.

They were also able to tell us that he had

previously worked for Arriva Buses before joining Queen's.

We then approached Arriva

who gave us Crowley Crescent as his address, as well.

Once again, Kevin West's previous address was confirmed as being the same as Maria Blyth's.

But the investigators still needed to find out where he was working now

and to prove, once and for all,

that he was still living with Maria Blyth.

And the best way to do that would be to catch them red-handed.

It was time for Graham to take his investigation up to the next level.

'Coming up later,

'the paper trail brings positive proof that Maria Blyth is lying...'

-At this point, you've got them bang to rights.

-We have.

-There's no argument for that.

-No.

'..as investigators turn to surveillance to help close the case.'

Having established that pattern,

that, in effect, was the final piece in the jigsaw.

For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters

and hello to the people we call our saints - those who are in genuine need of help

but are too proud or don't know how to claim what is rightfully theirs,

and the people who point them in the right direction.

With nearly 40 years' retail experience behind her,

Sandra Morgan thought when she lost her job at a convenience store

that she'd easily find another one.

It wasn't as easy as she thought.

Sandra found herself out of work in 2009

and spent months trawling through job listings, handing out her CV

and applying for any job she could find.

But she just couldn't get a break.

I actually put it down to my age.

And it's now generally accepted, even at the Jobcentre,

that two types of people struggle the most

and that is the school leavers and the over 50s.

Sandra was very depressed about her situation.

She was now living in a one-room bedsit

and surviving on just £30 a week.

But she had been offered a glimmer of hope when guidance worker Liz Fraser

from the charity Ascend appeared as the saint in her life.

She put Sandra's name forward for a special course.

Liz called me in and said, we think it would be quite good for you

to actually become part of the Flexible Routeway.

The Flexible Routeway scheme helps people like Sandra

to get back into work

by providing them with training, support and advice.

It's paid for from the UK's £2.5 billion share

of the European Social Fund.

All European taxpayers contribute to the fund which aims to help

create jobs across the EU.

And in the current job market,

it's more important than ever to stand out from the crowd.

There's a lot of people out there looking for the same jobs.

You've got people at the upper end of the scale trying to take the middle market

so it's difficult for people coming from the other end.

Sandra completed the course which improved her IT skills

and gave her more confidence.

But the job market was so tough that she still hadn't managed to find work by the end of it.

Liz had suggested in the past that Sandra should also consider

taking on some voluntary work.

They said it would look good on your CV

because one of the biggest problems with a CV

is that companies don't like gaps.

But it took them an awful long time to get me on that side

because I did not want to work for nothing.

I was living on peanuts and thought, why should I give my time

and not get any financial aid back to make my life a little bit better?

But with the patience of a saint, Liz kept on pushing and eventually,

she managed to convince Sandra that working for nothing

might be better than not working at all.

It was really important for Sandra to take up something that

would create a positive atmosphere for her and give her hope.

As luck would have it,

a new local work skills project called Step Up was just starting,

and they needed volunteers.

Sandra put herself forward and was taken on.

It might not have been a paid job but it was a job nonetheless.

Sandra was thrilled to be back in an office.

Step Up Learning and Wellbeing Centre, Sandra speaking.

I found that the phone ringing, people knocking on the door -

it was really good. It got me excited again.

It didn't matter to me

I wasn't going to get paid at the end of the week.

Thanks to Liz, Sandra had reached a real turning point.

She updated her CV to show that she was now volunteering

and carried on applying for jobs.

Then, something amazing happened.

The following week when I actually applied for jobs,

out of the four I applied for, I got two responses.

I thought, "I don't believe this."

Although Sandra didn't get those jobs, she was hugely encouraged

that employers were now taking more of an interest in her.

With the volunteering on my CV,

I applied for a job

at the beginning of September.

I received a response within 24 hours.

I had an interview within 48 hours

and the next day I was offered the job.

Sandra was delighted. As was her adviser, Liz.

I feel very proud of Sandra

because even though she didn't think she had the skills,

actually they were there all the time.

She found it again and came out well in the end

so I am very proud of her.

As for Sandra, there's only one word for her reaction.

Gobsmacked!

I thought, I have spent nearly two my years of my life being depressed,

bored, pulling my hair out.

When maybe if I had listened to those words of wisdom from Liz,

I would have got a job much sooner.

There was just one small spanner in the works.

Sandra's new job was in London,

an expensive train ride away from her home in South Oxhey.

Once the elation had passed that I had got the job,

I then suddenly realised, how was I going to afford to get to London?

Although Ascent couldn't help Sandra, they put her in contact with

a government-funded recruitment service called Ingeus.

They have access to a new government budget that's been set aside

to help with the common problem of people being offered jobs

but then not being able to afford to travel to work.

Sandra told them about her predicament.

I said, "I've gone through everything

"and the cheapest way is an Oyster Card, £50 a week."

I said, "It's monthly pay so it's going to be £200

"that I'm going to need."

Ingeus were able to offer Sandra a one-off payment of £200.

They also helped her work out that she's entitled to £25 a week

of working tax credit, which she can put towards her Oyster Card.

So, she was finally all set for her first day back.

Did I feel good that morning when I could say,

"I'm going to work."

Sandra is now a supermarket sampling ambassador

and that's quite a job title.

It means she stands in store

offering free samples of various goodies to passing shoppers.

Not only is she loving it, but she seems to be a natural.

I was nervous about coming back to work but also

because it's a job that I hadn't done before.

Had I lost my touch?

Would I not be able to make people come over and sample?

Would I not be able to make them laugh in a conversation?

But Sandra needn't have worried

because the old magic has come flooding back

and Sandra hasn't forgotten the debt she owes to Ascent.

As her job at the supermarket is Tuesday to Saturday, she still

goes into Ascent and volunteers as a receptionist every Monday.

I can't thank Ascent enough.

Where I am now is all because of them and it's not just the name,

it's the people there.

All of them are there for you and they will always be there for you.

I am over the moon. I can't be as happy as I am coming out to work.

And in all honesty, I'm even happier on payday.

Because it's a lot different from the benefit pay.

Hello, young man. Would you like to try?

Well, Sandra's back to her cheerful self and in a job that she loves.

It's good to see that there are organisations

and people out there like Liz, who could help put your life

back on track and start enjoying yourself again.

Back now to the scroungers and the spotlight of suspicion

has fallen on unemployed single mum-of-one, Maria Blyth.

She claims income support, housing benefit

and council tax benefit as a single person.

The trouble is, Croydon Council suspect she's not single at all.

They've been passed an anonymous tip-off from

the Department for Work and Pensions.

Hundreds of benefit cheats are now being shopped in every single week.

Why do you think you get so many anonymous tip-offs, then?

I think it's just the public are very aware of benefit fraud

and, of course, it's everybody's taxes that go towards paying

other people's benefits.

Investigator Graham has already carried out background checks

into Kevin West.

He's the father of Maria Blyth's son and Graham suspects

he's been living with them in the family home, which would mean

that single mum Maria isn't quite as single as she's making out.

The credit checks that we ran on Kevin,

we found that he had a bank account

and this clearly shows that when he opened the account,

he gave Crowley Crescent as his address.

Banks are quite thorough in their credit checks

because of money laundering and things like that,

-so they were convinced he lived there.

-Absolutely.

Anybody that opens a bank account,

they would be asking for other documentation as proof of address.

Totally.

Kevin West's not short of documentation

showing proof of his address.

After all, it's on his driving licence, car insurance policy

and job references.

He doesn't seem worried about revealing it to lenders either.

He also applied to the same institution for a loan

and again, gave Crowley Crescent as his address.

-The loan was approved?

-Yes.

-Not idiots, are they?

-Absolutely not.

-At this point, you've got them bang to rights?

-We have.

There's no argument, but how long have they been getting away with it?

They've been getting away with it, for some five or six years,

since 2002 through to 2007,

when we launched the investigation.

It looks like Maria has been fraudulently claiming

housing benefit, council tax benefit

and income support as a single mum for more than five years.

To prove the case beyond all doubt, Graham decided it was time

to put Maria Blyth and Kevin West under surveillance.

Local authorities are allowed to use surveillance to help tackle fraud,

under something called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act,

which was introduced in 2000 to fight crime and terrorism.

We say surveillance, that is such a powerful word.

When you suspect something's wrong and you get permission,

can you and your guys literally go out there

and secretly film someone day or night, whatever they're doing?

That's exactly what we do.

You are right, it's a process that's very regulated so we have

to think very hard about if that's the appropriate thing to do.

With all the legal boxes ticked, Graham had the green light to

start recording Maria Blyth and Kevin West's daily activities.

He was hoping to get the crucial evidence

he needed of Kevin West leaving Maria Blyth's property.

It didn't take long to strike gold.

We conducted surveillance, every morning,

over a period of three or four weeks.

We saw both Maria and Kevin leaving the property

on a regular basis at around about 7 o'clock each morning

and that established a pattern that he was here

and eventually we followed them to work and it transpired

Maria was giving him a lift to work each morning.

Bingo. All this time, Maria had been claiming to live as a single mother,

yet investigators had seen and documented her driving

the father of her son to work every day.

Having established that pattern,

that in effect was the final piece in the jigsaw and proved our case.

After that, we invited her in for an interview.

Maria Blyth had some explaining to do.

Officers invited her to an interview under caution, where they put the allegation to her

that she was not actually a single mother.

Throughout the interview,

she maintained she was a single parent.

When I put the surveillance evidence to her,

the excuse that she gave was that Kevin just turned up,

out of the blue and asked for a lift and she didn't question him

as to where he had come from or where he wanted to go.

You'd have to say it's pretty unusual to be living alone

and yet still leave the house at the same time every morning,

with the same person and drive them to work.

Investigator Graham wasn't fooled, either.

I've never heard an excuse like it so, no,

we didn't accept what she said.

Maria's explanation was plainly a pack of lies. But if Kevin

wasn't living at Crowley Crescent, where did he call home?

Maria came up with three possible addresses for him.

She said that he either resided with a friend in Croydon,

or with two family members in Birmingham.

I asked Birmingham City Council to check those out

but it transpired that Kevin was not known at either of those addresses.

With the Birmingham addresses ruled out,

investigators decided to pay a visit to the friend

Kevin was supposed to be staying with in Croydon.

We went round to see this friend,

who told us that he was not friends with Kevin.

He only knew Kevin because he drank in the same pub.

It wasn't just a lie about a supposed friendship

that Kevin was trying to engineer.

What we found out was that, days after the interview,

Kevin had approached this person and asked him to lie

to the investigation and state that Kevin did reside there.

From that, it was clear that Maria had told Kevin

that she'd been interviewed and they were under investigation.

The plot thickens.

It seems Kevin West had an inkling that fraud investigators

were on to him and his partner's dodgy dealings

and that the net was closing in on them.

His attempts to give himself an alibi had fallen apart

under proper scrutiny.

Time to speak to the man himself.

In April 2008,

officers called Kevin West in for an interview under caution.

They asked him whether he was living with Maria Blyth and guess what he said?

He denied totally that he had lived there.

Indeed, attempted to give the same addresses that he had lived at

despite the fact that we had already disproved those addresses.

With the evidence investigators had collected,

even the most convincing denial just wouldn't wash.

Maria Blyth and Kevin West were both charged with deceiving

the benefits authorities into believing she was a single parent,

when in fact they were living together off Kevin West's income.

They appeared at Croydon Crown Court on 8th July 2011,

where, in the light of all the evidence against them,

they finally acknowledged the game was up and pleaded guilty.

In total, Maria had stolen over £60,000 in benefits

over a five-year period.

Kevin West was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment

for his part in the fraud while Maria Blyth got 12 months

in jail for failing to inform the Department for Work and Pensions

of her real circumstances.

They will have to pay back all the money they wrongfully claimed.

It's another great result for the fraud team at Croydon Council and

one that sends a clear signal to all would-be benefit thieves out there.

It would take the average taxpayer working full-time more than

two years to earn what Blyth and West stole in benefits.

If you lie to authorities and take money that is not

rightfully yours, sooner or later,

the fraud investigators are going to track you down.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd