Fraud | HMRC worker fakes child disability for extra money - is employee fraud rising?

An HMRC employee has been convicted of claiming her children were disabled and submitting false tax credits to fraudulently steal over £238,000 from her employer.

The hearing, which took place at Newcastle Crown Court, found that Tracy Ashbridge had abused her job as an HMRC employee, working in the area of child tax credit claims, to fraudulently claim large sums of money.

The court found that Ashbridge attempted to obtain £434,128 and successfully obtained £238,799 over four years through falsely claiming three of her children were disabled and submitting false claims for 15 other children.

Through working in the department, Ashbridge had access to legitimate claims made by members of the public, for which she made out were her own. One of these cases, was from a family with two children who were moving to Poland, Ashbridge claimed £59,000 meant for this family.