A fraudster working for one London council has admitted dishonestly claiming thousands of pounds of benefits off another to buy drugs for sick relatives.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council care worker Florentina Lukoszek, 59, of Linden Gardens, Kensington, unlawfully received £10,384 in housing and council tax benefits from Kensington and Chelsea Council.
At West London Magistrates' Court on September 9, she was sentenced to do 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £150 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence of dishonesty.
A council lawyer told the court that Lukoszek had got benefits since November 2005 after initially claiming she was on low income and then unemployed and never told officials she had started work again.
On December 10 officers from the Royal Borough discovered she had been working full-time for Hammersmith and Fulham Council as a care worker since January 2006 earning around £900 a month.
In mitigation, the court was told that she had failed to notify the council because she needed the extra money to help sick relatives in the Philippines buy medical drugs.
But cabinet member for finance and property at Kensington and Chelsea Council, Cllr Thomas Fairhead, said: "Regardless of the circumstances, defrauding the council is a serious matter and if we catch you out you will pay the penalty."
