Episode 12 Saints and Scroungers

One of the things that makes this country great is that whenever

we find someone in genuine need, we help them out.

Help that comes in the shape of vital support that improves lives.

At one point I just thought, "This is it, I can't do this no more."

But then whenever there's cash on offer,

you'll always find someone who wants to steal it.

She had savings of at least £53,000 and she was claiming benefits.

Welcome to the world of Saints and Scroungers.

Saints And Scroungers shines a light the money paid into the system

by the UK taxpayer that's used to help others.

On one side, you have people who deserve this money,

but on the other people who just think they deserve it.

Every day across the UK teams of investigators

identify and bring these fraudsters to justice,

while the saints make sure that those who are really in need

get what they're entitled to.

Coming up on today's show...

A care home manager who only cares for her own wallet,

not the public purse.

The amount that I believed was being misappropriated

was now reaching a quarter of a million pounds.

And a mother of three disabled children

finally gets the help she needs in order to fulfil a lifelong dream.

An hour to me is like a week, so we're really grateful.

At Oakfield Residential Care Service, adults with

learning difficulties are given the opportunity to live

as independently as they can

and taste a little bit of responsibility

with expert support close at hand.

Oakfield is a residential care service for adults

with learning disabilities. It was established in 1981.

Many people have lived here many years.

It is their home, and as such they should have the same

fundamental rights and choices as anybody living in their own home.

It really did look like the perfect home from home for its residents,

with the added independence that it gave them of access

to their own money.

But in 2010 the finance manager of seven years, Jenny Glanister, left,

and it started to look as though the place hadn't been run

quite the way it should've been

This was before Paula's time,

when Jenny had held a lot of responsibility.

When Jenny left, the pieces had to be picked up.

Meet Hayley Barker, the current finance manager at Oakfield.

I was approached back in November 2010 by the auditors of Oakfield,

who were MacIntyre Hudson, as the previous finance manager was leaving

and they wanted somebody to come in and take over the finances

and make sure that everything was in order in preparation for the audit

which was due to take place in December.

Jenny Glanister had sole responsibility

for the finance function of Oakfield.

And that's a lot of money for one person to control.

The first thing that made me have cause for concern

was the missing petty cash records.

All the receipts, vouchers,

and all the petty cash records had disappeared,

which mean that I had nothing to verify

against what had actually been posted onto the computer.

Now, to make sure that the residents have their independence,

there's petty cash on site for them to use for their personal shopping,

and that's about £8,000 a month.

The finance assistant would prepare

the petty cash expenditure spreadsheet.

This would then be handed to Jenny at the end of each month.

And it was these spreadsheets which had gone missing,

but luckily she'd got copies kept on her computer.

Well, even the most diligent of employees can lose

the odd bit of paperwork from time to time...

Surely nothing to worry about.

When I actually started to check the spreadsheets I noticed that

the amounts posted onto the computer were inflated.

My initial reaction was that this was just sort of bad accounting.

There was also suppliers who hadn't been paid,

there were wages queries which hadn't been dealt with,

there was just an awful lot of work

which needed to be got up to date with,

erm, without having the added pressure of sorting out

accounting discrepancies, which were arising.

It seems like Jenny had let things get a bit on top of her.

One of the first accounts I checked was for a company that we

purchased frozen food from, and I noticed that there was an invoice

on their account ledger for, erm...

instead of frozen food it just said "kit."

The invoice number was out of sequence with the normal invoices

that we get from that supplier.

I did ask them whether they'd raised an invoice for this amount,

which they hadn't. So my next stage was to actually telephone the bank

to find out who the cheque had been payable to

in order to trace it back to the correct supplier.

They told me that the cheque was, in actual fact,

payable to Jenny Glanister.

And it was at that stage where my concerns really

started to come to the fore.

I started to believe that there was an element of fraud

being undertaken at the home.

But surely wasn't this just a mistake?

I was obviously quite shocked, but I decided to actually find out

what the sort of extent of fraud I was looking at

before raising it directly with the directors of Oakfield.

And the sums were substantial.

I'd managed to actually check the spreadsheets

against what had been posted onto Sage,

and for the period that I was able to check copies against

I was looking at about £40,000 just in petty cash.

Hmm. £40,000 is more than just a little mistake.

Not only that, Hayley started to find more invoices for things

that hadn't actually been bought.

The total amount of purchase ledger fictitious invoices amounted to

just under £60,000 for the year from September 2009 to August 2010.

And remember, that's taxpayer's money because the home is funded by

local authorities and donations.

My initial reaction was one of shock and disgust

because of the sort of environment that we're working in.

'Jenny was paid a substantial salary

'and she also paid herself a substantial amount of overtime hours.

'Whether or not those hours were worked, I couldn't say either way.

'I do know that a lot of the staff would complain

'because she wasn't here very much of the time.'

Now, it turns out that Jenny could sign cheques for anything

under two grand without passing it by anyone else,

so Hayley started looking at what had been bought for under £2,000.

So I checked all of the bank payments for the year,

but now knowing what I was actually looking for,

it was quite easy for me to pick up the cheques,

which I believed were payable to Jenny,

rather than to where they were supposed to be paid to.

The amount that I believed had been misappropriated

was now reaching a quarter of a million pounds.

And that's a quarter of a million pounds

that belongs to people in her care.

What sort of a woman would do that?

Hayley turned to her fiance for advice.

Dave Barker, now her husband and a director of Oakfield,

was at the time a CID officer.

We discussed it over tea as to what she thought had happened

and what was going on.

'Towards the middle end of December, Hayley had a meeting with

'the finance director and presented to him what she had uncovered.

'The financial director got in touch with Northamptonshire Police

'and he got in touch with their fraud department.'

With the accounts being brought to account,

Hayley then turned her attention to Oakfield's cash card,

which was issued to only one member of staff.

There was a debit card in use,

which was linked to the Oakfield main bank account.

'When I was doing the bank reconciliation,

'I noticed that there was a lot of payments going out to fuel

'and also a lot of payments going out to Tesco's, because I couldn't

'find any corresponding invoices or receipts for these amounts.'

But at the same time as this,

I had also been checking through the wages records and noticed that

she was paying herself a mileage allowance -

again, there were no mileage records.

There would have been no reason for her to claim mileage

if she was already having fuel supplied via the company debit card.

But Hayley wasn't one to rest on her laurels

and took it upon herself to continue investigating Oakfield's finances.

Hayley still needed to prove that Jenny had been deliberately

fiddling the books and a chance find in an old diary held the key.

I came across a diary for 2008

and in there there was a letter of complaint

written by the parents of one of the former residents

and the letter was alleging financial abuse by Jenny Glanister.

For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters

and hello to the people we call our saints,

those in our society who help others in genuine need,

but who are too proud

or often don't know HOW to claim what is rightfully theirs.

If it turns out that your child has a disability,

it can turn your life upside down,

but when all THREE of your children have something to deal with,

it can mean that life outside of your family can simply disappear.

And that was the situation Charlotte and Kevin from London

found themselves in when the third arrival to their family, Luke,

was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder in 2011.

We were told that Luke is the only child in this country

with his particular chromosome problem.

It is rare, they don't know exactly what it's going to do to him

or how it's going to affect him.

But the family's worries for the future were

the least of their problems.

For the moment, four-year-old Luke's disorder affected

everything from his sleep to his speech, leaving Charlotte

and Kevin struggling to balance their work and home lives.

You often think to yourself, "How am I going to cope?"

Sometimes you lay in bed and think, "How do I cope?"

but the next day you get up and the same thing,

and you just have to get on with it.

I was very, very tired,

I didn't quite know how to function on a daily basis,

but I did, I had to.

Kevin and Charlotte already had a lot to do

caring for her two children from a previous relationship.

19-year-old Christopher suffers from learning difficulties

and 12-year-old Alex suffers from a behavioural disorder.

Both have been diagnosed with forms of autism.

Sadly, the arrival of their first child together in 2008

was a very fraught time for the couple.

When Luke was born, they decided to do the blood test for Downs

and that came back negative, so he wasn't Downs, so I thought,

"I've got my first child

"that's actually problem free, perfect, great."

And then it changed... quite dramatically.

The diagnosis of Luke's rare condition

aged just three years old changed their lives for ever.

I've come to meet the family to hear more about how they've coped.

Playing with Luke there, he's sweet as a nut,

but I've only done that for half an hour.

For you, it's a completely different situation.

Oh, God, yeah, every single day of my life, all day and all night.

Well, not all day, because obviously I have to go to work, but as soon

as he comes home from school, my life gets taken over by his needs.

Luke was eventually diagnosed with the extremely rare

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.

This means there's a missing part one of his chromosomes.

This missing genetic material can lead to severe developmental

delays, characteristic facial features and other potential

birth defects and as Luke's grown older,

he was also diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder and a sleep disorder.

It's these two illnesses that have put the most strain on the family.

So, talk me through an average day with Luke. How does it work?

By seven o'clock in the morning,

he'll already have had several large breakfasts.

He eats because he's not medicated.

He doesn't get medicated for the ADHD until 7.30 and he'll stop

eating because it suppresses the appetite and he calms down,

but before that he's manic, so he will be running around the house.

He just takes toys out and they go everywhere cos he can't focus.

He'll try to get out the front door.

We have to make sure we double lock it and move the key

because he can cause a danger to himself.

It sounds exhausting

but Luke's ADHD hasn't only affected his daytime routine.

His sleep disorder has been one of the biggest battles that Kevin

-and Charlotte have had to deal with.

-Two and a half hours sleeping.

After two and a half, three hours maximum, he's then awake,

so, in the end, one of us will look after him

so the other one can nap. We've never had a night's sleep

and haven't had a proper night's sleep since.

This disruption to their sleep patterns has meant balancing

home life and work has been tough over the years.

Kevin works night shift as a Tube driver

and Charlotte was working as a teaching assistant.

Charlotte's oldest son Christopher has witnessed first-hand

just how hard it's been on them.

Try and steal as much sleep as they can, whenever they can, you know.

Obviously with me and Alex in the equation, as well,

they have to dedicate their time to all three of us as much

as possible and, you know, I don't understand how they do it sometimes.

Both Kevin and Charlotte work

and they receive Disability Living Allowance for their three children

and a nappy allowance for Luke.

Money was tight, but what was tighter was their time.

Charlotte was adamant she wanted to carry on working

and to one day gain her teaching qualification,

but to achieve this the family desperately needed support.

Eventually Luke got a placement at a nursery school

on a what they call a "vulnerable two-year-old's placement",

A, because he had special needs and, B, because we needed respite

and that all came about through Early Years and the health visitor.

When we got him in there

and they realised exactly what we were going through, the team

there were brilliant and that's how we got involved with HomeStart.

Using trained volunteers, the UK-wide charity HomeStart

specialises in supporting young families.

Sue Winter is scheme manager for the Wandsworth branch in South London.

From the first time she met Charlotte and Luke,

she knew they needed help.

From the moment we walked in through the door,

we were very struck about what a fabulous person Charlotte was

but she was struggling

and we only had to spend a few minutes in her company

and Luke was at home that we realised

that she had her work really cut out for her.

The charity works by providing trained volunteers to help

out within a family's home and give parents some time to themselves.

This would be crucial for Charlotte's dream

of furthering her own career.

We agreed instantly on the right person to work with that kind of

family and for somebody to play

with that little boy who was so energetic.

You needed somebody with a lot of energy.

Our recent training programme had just finished

and on the course had been a girl called Simone and when we suggested

to her that she might like to meet this family, she was up for it.

They met, they clicked, and it was a marriage made in heaven

and she's not missed a beat.

She's visited weekly for a year and a half.

The impacts that volunteer Simone has had on the family

and, more specifically, Charlotte has been immeasurable.

Just taking care of Luke a few hours here and there

has made all the difference.

Knowing that you've got someone coming for an hour a week

that you can rely on just to have that hour

to fit in all my coursework,

write up my essays, etc, etc, was amazing and Luke, he adores her.

"When's Mone coming? When's Mone coming?"

So it's great and I don't really ever want to lose her. She's brilliant.

The charity and, more specifically, Simone has freed up

time for Charlotte so she can finally study

and get some much-needed time to herself.

I've come to meet Sue to find out why the scheme works so well.

Sue, for someone to qualify for your help,

what do they need to meet?

They need a friend, mostly,

and that's something very simple to give.

Motherhood is quite a challenging thing

and we do find that we get a lot of families coming to us

who are very isolated and rather than struggling on their own,

HomeStart can go in and provide a befriender to just help you

through those difficult months.

The sense of giving Charlotte the chance to move on herself,

a bit of personal growth for her - how important did you see that?

I just think it's the most amazing achievement and she gives us

a lot of credit that we helped her

get on with her studies, which is great.

To be honest, if she didn't have a termination, I think

all the support in the world wouldn't have helped.

It almost feels like she has a full-time job...

-Yeah.

-..with the three children with the issues that they've got.

That, in itself, for most people would be a job

and yet she's chosen not to take that, the benefits that would be

due to her if she just cared for her kids, she's chosen to work.

'And work she has.

'The time freed up with Simone on board has finally allowed

'Charlotte to get the qualifications she so desperately wanted.'

There was a point in my life where I thought I'd never amount to

anything but now I know that I am amounting to something.

I'm a teacher. I'm giving back...

..something that was given to me which I'm very proud of.

And the family couldn't be more proud of their mum.

I think it means... it's progress and achievement,

no matter how old you are or how many kids you have,

you still like to feel a sense of achievement

and that's what it is

and it's going to progress her career which is

important for everyone in the house and it keeps a happy which is

probably THE most important thing is her being happy.

And the now fully-qualified teacher realises

she couldn't have done it by herself.

We owe a lot to Home-Start.

They were willing to give their time up just to give us an hour, which

may not seem a lot to some people but an hour to me is like a week.

So we are really grateful.

It's hard to overstate the impact that a volunteer like Simone

has had on this family. Just helping out for an hour here

or an hour there has made all the difference.

SHE GIGGLES

Now, if you are an accounting wizard,

it usually means you are good at accounts.

Jenny Glanister thought it meant she was allowed to make money disappear.

Hayley Barker saw straight through her tricks

and conjured up quite an investigation.

Most of the residents received benefits that were managed by Jenny Glanister

but this personal cash and cash from the home

appeared to be being siphoned off to pay for her lifestyle.

Jenny Glanister had been solely responsible for all the accounts at Oakfield care home

but it wasn't until she left in 2010

that it was suspected she had stolen over £100,000

from both the organisation and the residents in her care.

Then it turned out this was just the tip of the iceberg.

The residents get their benefits which are paid directly

into their bank accounts and the bank accounts were managed by Jenny.

If they needed access to their cash,

the cash will actually be provided by Oakfield in the first instance.

They would then take the resident shopping,

come back with the receipts and the change,

that expenditure would then be recorded onto the resident's

account and recharged to them at the end of the month.

So they would sub the expenses

and the residents would then be billed each month.

Makes perfect sense.

The bulk of the inflated entries just related to shopping

without any accompanying vouchers or receipts.

There were, however, towards the end of the period

that I was able to check for, spurious entries in the spreadsheet.

One of these was for spray tan for one of the residents.

Most of the residents here are late 40s, early 50s.

They are not the sort of people who would have the need for spray tan.

There was also a pair of tights which had been purchased from Boots.

The method of payment had been torn off the end of the receipt

so nobody could verify how it had been paid for

and this had been allocated to a male resident.

It was becoming obvious that the resident's expenses

were being spent by someone else and only one person was in the frame.

Hayley's partner Dave helped compile a case summary for the police.

As the result of everything the police had been

given by Oakfield and with their own enquiries,

Oakfield was told that they would be arresting Jenny Glanister

and that they would then, as a result of that, search her house.

That took place, I believe, it was on 12 January 2011.

There was a large amount of expensive jewellery

found in Glanister's house to the value of approximately £230,000.

One item was in excess of £18,000 and that was for a gold necklace.

Not only that, they also found 15 fur coats

and a garage full of expensive wines and champagne. Some lady.

In fact, that is what she'd chosen to call herself - Lady Glanister.

The title of Lady Glanister, I think, came from pure vanity.

She had no real entitlement to it, it wasn't passed down,

she hadn't inherited it or... It was from pure vanity.

Once I had passed my initial dossier to the police,

I continue to investigate

and I went back through all the previous years of Jenny's employment.

It turns out she had been at it for four years.

The amounts we know about had reached £333,000 that she had taken from the home.

In addition to that, she had taken just over £17,000 from the residents.

I cannot categorically say that that was all she took.

Unfortunately, a lot of that evidence went missing at the point that Jenny left Oakfield.

What had taken place was such a huge breach of trust

that it through up the clear need for a new management structure,

including drafting in Dave Barker.

I ensure that all the essential standards

that the Care Quality Commission ask of care homes is carried out.

I conduct compliance inspections with the registered manager

and we just make sure that the safeguarding and care issues

surrounding residents at Oldfield are taking care of

and that their needs and rights are supported and protected.

And changes to the way the finances are handled have also been put into place.

We have stringent processes in place for witnessing that

where there is no opportunity now

for any one person to have control of that process.

So it sounds like they have all got it sorted there now

but what has happened to the former finance manager?

Jenny Glanister was called to account

and pled guilty to eight counts of fraud.

She was subsequently sentenced to two years, eight months,

I believe it was, of which she is currently serving in prison.

Given the environment she was working in

and the theft from vulnerable adults,

I'm pleased she did get a prison sentence and I was actually

in court for the sentencing and she didn't seem at all remorseful.

She just appeared that she was a bit upset about the fact she was going to jail

but there wasn't really any remorse there for what she had actually done.

She had now gone to prison

so we could repair that by bringing in another registered manager

and moving Oakfield forward to the place where it is today,

which has just thrived over the last eight months.

But the money still needs to be recovered

and that is an ongoing process.

The police have got to go through the procedure of the Proceeds Of Crime Act.

That has been going on now for some nine months

to try and recoup some of the money.

I believe it goes to auction and whatever they get from the auction

of those items as a home we would get that money back in its entirety.

The dream team of Dave and Haley Barker certainly worked their magic

and, under the watchful eye of Paula Dutton,

the dark days of Oakfield are now well and truly over.