As part of the Government’s crackdown on frauds involving state benefits and tax credits, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has published new guidelines for prosecutors dealing with such cases. The guidelines are likely to result in tougher sentences for some of those convicted.
The guidelines include the CPS charging standard, which sets out the approach prosecutors should take in deciding the appropriate offences to use, so that the charge fits the crime in line with the prosecution of fraud more generally. The standard also states that where the alleged offending merits such an approach, and prosecutors anticipate a very substantial prison sentence, they should charge under the Fraud Act - which carries a maximum sentence of ten years - rather than using specific social security legislation, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
The guidelines set out the factors that prosecutors should take into account when advising the court on whether to send cases to the Crown Court - and which also act as the aggravating factors that prosecutors should draw to the sentencing court's attention.
These include:
- whether the fraud was professionally planned
- whether the fraud was carried out over a significant period of time
- whether multiple frauds occurred (multiple frauds include where one false declaration or a failure to disclose a change of circumstances results in multiple payments)
- use of a false or stolen identity
- relevant previous convictions/cautions/previous out of court disposals for benefit fraud
- an attempt to conceal or dispose of evidence
- abuse of a position of trust
- substantial consequential loss to public funds
Contact Lewis Nedas’ Criminal Lawyers in London
If you have been charged with fraud involving state benefits or tax credits, you will require specialist legal advice. Contact our solicitors Jeffrey Lewis or Siobhain Egan on 020 7387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.
This blog post is intended as a news item only - no connection between Lewis Nedas and the parties concerned is intended or implied.
