Tougher court fine terms for claimants

BENEFIT claimants who break the law and are fined will have up to £25 a week docked from their allowances in a clampdown ordered by David Cameron in the wake of the summer’s riots, it emerged yesterday.

Courts will be given the right to demand the increased payments instead of the present £5 maximum to show offenders they cannot get away with paying “the bare minimum”, the Prime Minister said.

Of the 1,350 people brought before the courts for their part in the disorder that hit the streets of England in August, 40 per cent were claiming a state benefit of some kind, official figures show.

A total of 500 (35 per cent) were claiming an out-of-work benefit, compared with 12 per cent of the general working population in England and 45 per cent of all offenders sentenced for an indictable offence last year.

In all, 100 were claiming disability living allowance, 60 were claiming incapacity benefit and some may have been claiming both.

The new maximum deduction will come into force in 2013 across the UK.

Courts will retain discretion over how much to demand in weekly repayments towards any fine they impose. A £25 hit would represent around 37 per cent of the present rate of jobseeker’s allowance.

Cameron said: “People need to understand if they commit a crime they will face the consequences. The system as it stands at the moment is far too soft.”