A MAN from Potters Bar has been given a 13-week curfew order after receiving more than £4500 in benefit he was not entitled to.

Robert Daniels, 40, of Cranborne Close, appeared at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates Court last Monday, February 28, for sentencing.

Daniels had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of failing to report a change in his circumstances, which affected his claims for job seekers allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

The court heard how in late summer of 2008 Daniels submitted claims for those benefits to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). However, he failed to declare he had started working as a driver in October 2009.

The court ordered Daniels to pay back the £2939.53 he incorrectly received in housing benefit, costs of £50 to the DWP and Hertsmere Borough Council, and sentenced him to a 13-week curfew order.

Cllr John Graham (Conservative Aldenham East), portfolio holder for finance, said: "Benefits are calculated according to an individual's needs and therefore it is important that if your circumstances change, you tell us, otherwise you will be cheating the system and in the end it will catch up with you.”