Services for solicitors
I provide the following services to
solicitors' practices:
Expert witness investigations and reports in
benefit fraud prosecutions (see below)
Defences in benefit overpayment cases
Advice on benefit-efficient approaches to
matrimonial and personal injury awards
Assessment of lost benefit income in
personal injury matters
Advice and advocacy about benefits for
elderly clients or beneficiaries with special needs
Advice on housing benefit problems in rent
disputes
Expert witness reports in benefit
fraud prosecutions. Since 2006, I have received regular instructions to be an
expert witness in benefit fraud prosecutions. My investigations examine the accuracy
and recoverability of the alleged benefit overpayments, underlying entitlement during the
time of the alleged offences (including unclaimed benefits which may be offset against the
overpayment and/or used in mitigation), notional entitlement to benefits and tax credits
during the period of the alleged offences which may be relevant for sentence and evidence
about the complexity of the benefits system and administrative standards within DWP/local
authorities.
These are in-depth investigations and my
reports frequently run to over twenty pages.
In almost every case I have examined, the
prosecutor's evidence of alleged overpayments has been incorrect when it has been properly
scrutinised. In some cases I have helped secure acquittals and in others to achieve
non-custodial sentences. The standard of decision-making about benefit overpayments
is often very inadequate, leading to exaggerated amounts - a tacitly acknowledged fact
among DWP officials and a well known fact among welfare rights experts.
In addition, experience shows that fraud
investigators frequently lack good knowledge of benefit entitlement and actual and
underlying entitlement issues are often overlooked by benefit decision makers.
The exception appears to be when the entitlement and amount are actually assessed
correctly.
My reports are not usually disputed by the
prosecution after they have been served on them.
Welfare reform means that benefits and tax
credits payable to people in low paid work are often the same as or more than benefits for
people out of work, so the true loss to the public purse is often minimal - something the
DWP does not mention in prosecutions or press releases. This can be relevant for
sentence.
How many people have been wrongly convicted of
benefit fraud or have been given excessive sentences because the correct evidence is not
before the Court?
I am willing to accept instructions from
either the defence or the Crown and can be a single or joint expert.
References from instructing solicitors and
counsel are available and I have no previous criminal convictions (Enhanced CRB clearance
obtained).
To contact me, click
here.
To view or download a practise checklist for
use in benefit fraud matters, click here. I am grateful to Desmond Rutledge counsel of Garden
Court Chambers, for advice and help with the checklist.
To read my article on this subject in the Law
Society's Gazette, click here.
