A MOTHER was overpaid almost £12,000 in benefits claiming for her daughter while the child was in care, a court heard.

Burnley magistrates were told how Wendy Tipple, 32, carried on the scam, and did not tell the authorities, for more than two years.

Tipple, of Pine Street, Nelson, admitted failing to notify a change in circumstances, between May 2003 and September 2005, and failing to surrender to custody. The defendant was given an 18-month community order with supervision and must pay £75 costs.

Richard Taylor, prosecuting for the Department for Work and Pensions, said Tipple claimed benefits as a single lady with a dependent child at home. She received income support from at least May 2003 on the basis she had no work, paid or unpaid, and no other income apart from child benefit.

The declaration was untrue as the defendant's daughter was in local authority care for 28 months, from May 15, 2003 until September 19, 2005.

Mr Taylor said Tipple was overpaid £11,773.70 in income support but the department's solicitors had taken into account a notional entitlement to Jobs Seekers Allowance. The defendant had got £4,980 she was not entitled to. She had no previous convictions.

John Nuttall, defending, said when Tipple made the claim she believed her daughter was only going into care on a temporary basis.

Tipple, who had been diagnosed with depression, had had to face three years of family proceedings, she had travelled to see her child and that had been a real strain on her.

Mr Nuttall continued:"The defendant thought keeping hold of the benefits was a way perhaps of keeping hold of her daughter. In her mind, she hoped her daughter was going to come back."

The solicitor added the benefits Tipple received were spent on her daughter and the defendant had not been living a luxurious lifestyle.