Several cases in Scotland reveal people receiving government benefits by faking disabilities

From The Evening News in Edinburgh, Scotland:

A labourer who claimed more than £4,000 worth of disability benefit and a mobility car was filmed carrying heavy girders around a building site – despite insisting he could not walk without a crutch.

Michael Campbell, 43, of Prestonpans, was caught in a surveillance sting carried out by Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) fraud investigators following a tip-off by a member of the public.

His conviction was revealed during an Evening News investigation into benefit cheats, after a massive rise in convictions in and around Edinburgh over the last three years.

Other cases in recent weeks include a man who claimed nearly £10,000 in disability benefit despite having two jobs – one of which included a contract to clean the Procurator Fiscal's office in Edinburgh, as well as a case where two women claimed more than £30,000 each in single person benefits despite both living with partners on a permanent basis.

The Evening News also accompanied investigators on a number of ongoing surveillance operations in the Lothians, monitoring suspected benefit thieves unaware that they are currently under close scrutiny by the DWP.

Mr Campbell was convicted of benefit fraud at Haddington Sheriff Court earlier this month, and ordered to serve 100 hours community service and repay the £4,465.95 of benefits he had wrongly claimed while working.

The DWP officer who led the investigation, who cannot be identified to safeguard future operations, said: "We set up a surveillance exercise, followed him to a building site in Elphinstone Road, Tranent, and established that he was working as a labourer.

"In his claim he said he couldn't walk without severe discomfort, over a maximum distance of 20 yards in two minutes, and that he always used an elbow crutch or a stick. We filmed Mr Campbell working around the building site, walking over uneven surfaces and carrying heavy objects.

"When we presented him with the evidence he admitted that his condition had improved."

Mr Campbell today put his fraudulent claim down to "stupidity", personal oversight and even poor advice by his disability officer.

He said: "I didn't set out to intentionally defraud anyone.

"I had a knee replacement and I would have preferred to stay off work, but I took some advice from the Job Centre and I got a job at B&Q.

"I was signed off the incapacity benefit, but I didn't get signed off the disability living allowance and I didn't receive much communication from my disability adviser regarding what I was and wasn't entitled to. I then got a job with builders Persimmon and didn't think a great deal about the benefit I was still receiving.

"I was as shocked as anyone when the investigators turned up at the site to question me about the overpayment. In the end it was all down to stupidity."

Investigations carried out by the DWP's Edinburgh team, which also covers parts of East Lothian and the Borders, were responsible for 409 successful convictions, fines and cautions in the year to March 2009 – nearly a third more than in 2006/07.

Benefits cheats in Edinburgh were also caught scamming a combined total of £2.3 million in the same period, with one city resident discovered to have earned almost £50,000 by falsely claiming benefits while working.

The Lothians currently has more than 30 dedicated fraud investigators carrying out multiple investigations every day.

They form part of a 3,000-strong team of fraud investigators who carry out more than 2,000 investigations a week throughout the UK.

Much of the information used in the investigations comes from tip-offs by members of the public who have called the DWP's dedicated hotline.

The phone line, on 0800 854 440, receives more than 600 calls a day from across the UK, while the DWP's website also receives an average of 200 online reports each day.