Woman falsely claims £28k benefits
A 63-year-old woman has been found guilty of swindling more than £28,000 in disability benefits after falsely claiming she struggled to walk while working at McDonald’s.
Paulette Windridge pocketed handouts over a 11-year period, claiming her movement was affected by arthritis despite holding a full-time job at the fast food restaurant deemed ‘physically challenging’ by bosses.
Windridge, of Usmere Road, Kidderminster, will be sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on October 19.
Before starting her job in 2004, her mobility was severely affected due to rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Windridge had been in receipt of disability benefits since 1996.
But when she began working at the Worcester Road branch in Kidderminster, Windridge said her mobility improved. She failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions about her health improvements and continued falsely pocketing Disability Living Allowance.
Chairman Mr Richard Poppleton called this ‘dishonest’.
In total she claimed £28,695 from the Department for Work and Pensions between October, 13 2004, and November 24, 2015.
Her managers at the store gave evidence at Kidderminster Magistrates Court to say they never saw Windridge suffer as a result of her health conditions at work . Upon taking employment with McDonald’s - where she still works - she said her health problems would not affect her doing the job.
They described her role – a lobby hostess – as a physically challenging job which required ‘being on your feet all day’.
Windridge, who pleaded not guilty, stopped receiving benefits in 2015, but Miss Kriss Euding, prosecuting, said this should have stopped in 2004 when her movement got better.
Windridge claims her pain has got worse over time despite her movement getting better.
Mr Charles Hobbs, defending, argued that Windridge felt this factor meant she could continue receiving benefits.
But chairman Mr Richard Poppleton said a reasonable person would have told the DWP their health benefits have got better and they no longer needed the benefits.
She was found guilty following a trial.
He said: “We find you guilty as charged.”
Windridge claims she went to visit the DWP after being offered the job in 2004 to tell them she had received employment.
But she never told them about the change in her health.
Each year Windridge, like other benefit claimants, received a letter through the post asking her if any of her health conditions had changed. But she failed to declare this.
She said her movement got better thanks to medicine prescribed by doctors.
Windridge was bailed as she awaits sentencing at court on October 19.
