A 38-year-old mother of eight from Birmingham has received a suspended prison sentence after unlawfully claiming more than £13,000 in Universal Credit for children who no longer lived with her. Carla Hunt also obtained over £1,000 in Carer’s Allowance she was not entitled to, admitting the oversight occurred because it ‘slipped her mind’ to update the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Court Proceedings and Guilty Verdict
Hunt appeared at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on January 30, where she broke down in tears upon receiving a 12-week suspended sentence for 12 months. Following a trial in her absence last year, the court found her guilty of two counts of dishonestly failing to notify the DWP of changes in circumstances that affected her benefit entitlements.
Prosecution Details
Prosecutor Savithru Wijeratne outlined that Hunt claimed Universal Credit for her eight children starting in November 2021 and Carer’s Allowance for one son from January of that year. Evidence showed she did not inform Universal Credit that her children were removed from her care between January 6, 2022, and June 6, 2022.
During her arrest and interview in March 2023, Hunt explained the failure stemmed from it slipping her mind, difficulties accessing the Universal Credit journal, and advice from a social worker to withhold notification as the removal was temporary pending court proceedings. The overpayments totaled £1,254.60 in Carer’s Allowance from May to October 2022 and £13,487.96 in Universal Credit from January 2022 to January 2023. Hunt has agreed to a repayment plan.
Defense Arguments
Defending solicitor Peter Ricketts highlighted Hunt’s history of long-term domestic abuse, mental health challenges, and learning difficulties that impaired her ability to handle paperwork and official processes. He noted she became pregnant young and left school without completing exams.
Ricketts stressed the claims were initially legitimate and that Hunt believed her children would return soon, using the funds to improve her home in hopes of regaining custody. ‘She accepts she should have done more,’ he said, adding that she had no intention to deceive the DWP and maintained a clean criminal record.
Sentence and Conditions
The court ordered Hunt to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and pay a £154 victim surcharge. The Chair of the Bench remarked, ‘We have thought long and hard about this today. We are not going to lecture you, you know what you did was wrong. We are going to suspend the prison sentence. Keep your nose clean, keep out of trouble and you won’t go to prison.’
