A PENRITH woman has admitted committing a benefit fraud by failing to disclose the improvement of a health condition.
Angela Gregg, 50, pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud when she appeared at Carlisle Crown Court this afternoon (THURS).
This states that she dishonestly failed to disclose information to the Department for Work and Pensions, between November 24, 2016, and December 12, 2018, in relation to a claim for Personal Independence Payments: namely that there had been an improvement in her capabilities.
Anthony Parkinson, defending, told the court Gregg had submitted a formal basis for her guilty plea which was accepted by the prosecution. “That the application was not fraudulent from the outset,” explained Mr Parkinson. “The second point it makes is that three to four months prior to the surveillance operation which was carried out, in November, 2018, the condition had improved.”
Gregg, of Milton Street, Penrith, accepted the notification failure would have affected her payment entitlement, and that it was dishonest.
Although the fraud figure was alleged originally to have been in the region of £12,000, Mr Parkinson told Recorder Christopher Hudson, in light of Gregg’s admission: “The prosecution intend on recalculating that figure.”
Recorder Hudson adjourned the case for preparation of a probation service pre-sentence report. Gregg was granted unconditional bail, and is due to be sentenced by a judge at the crown court on March 6.
