A WOMAN claimed benefits as a single person while living as "man and wife" with her partner, a court was heard.
Burnley magistrates were told how Margaret Thompson, 44, got almost £5,000 she wasn't entitled to, in income support, housing benefits and council tax benefits.
She was caught after the Department for Work and Pensions carried out surveillance.
The defendant, of Pendlemist View, Colne, was convicted of three counts of failing to notify a change in circumstances, between February and September last year.
She was given 120 hours unpaid work and must pay £75 costs.
Richard Taylor, prosecuting for the DWP, said Thompson claimed benefits as a single woman with no dependent children from 2001.
She told the department she had no work, paid or unpaid and no other income.
She admitted the offences.
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