'Gleeful' pursuit of benefit fraudsters slammed by SNP politician

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A councillor has claimed colleagues and officials were ‘gleeful’ in the pursuit of benefit fraudsters.SNP councillor Beverley Clark told a meeting of East Ayrshire Council’s Governance and Scrutiny Committee that she wanted to abstain from noting a progress report on benefit fraud investigations.She indicated that she felt the way the council pursued fraudulent claims lacked ’empathy and understanding’.But it was unclear whether she was talking about intentional fraud before she cited her own experience of ‘bringing up a family on benefits’ as the reason for her objection.The report to the committee outlined how the corporate fraud investigators had recovered £464,000 since 2016/17, covering council tax, business rates, discretionary housing payments, blue badges and tenancies.It also added the investigation of ‘suspicious’ covid grant applications to its remit.The matter is one that is generally noted without much issue.

However, the SNP member insisted that she didn’t not want to be seen to be voting in favour.While the focus was on those who had received benefits they were not entitled to by fraud or error, cllr Clark’s stance attempted to relate her call for compassion to those who were raising families while receiving benefits.She said: “A show of hands.

How many people have raised a family on benefits?“Anyone? If you had maybe we would be less gleeful about prosecuting and getting money back.

Try it for a year and you’ll see how hard it is. A bit more empathy and understanding would go a long way.“Let’s talk about if someone is owed money by the council or the DwP, how long does it take that money to be returned?.