Published: Tuesday, 19th February 2019
A Warrington resident has been ordered to pay more than £5,000 after fraudulent council tax claims.
Philip Duffy, 47, of Riversdale, Woolston, appeared at Warrington Magistrates on 13 February 2019. He pleaded guilty to two charges of council tax support fraud and two charges of discretionary award.
Mr Duffy was found to have dishonestly failed to notify the Council of a change in circumstances – his wife’s income – which he wilfully knew would affect his council tax support.
The second charge was that as a recipient of council tax support, Mr Duffy dishonestly stated that the household income remained the same when his wife was receiving an income.
Failing to notify the Council of the change also affected his discretionary award. A discretionary award is financial support offered by the Council to help towards council tax payments.
The final charge was, that as the recipient of a discretionary award, Mr Duffy dishonestly made a false statement that the household income remained the same despite his wife receiving an income.
Leader of the Council Cllr Russ Bowden, said: “We work hard to ensure that people who legitimately need help paying their council tax, get the support they need.
“Having people abuse the system is grossly unfair on those who need a helping hand to pay their tax.
