Mum-of-four made £93k in benefits plus salary
The woman's gross salary was made up of part-time work, rent and childcare support and Universal Credit
A mum-of-four made £93,000 a year through a combination of part-time work and benefits, as concern mounts over Britain's rising benefits bill.
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The single parent of four children, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, had a monthly take-home income of £5,400, made up of part-time work, rent and childcare support and Universal Credit.
Her take-home pay significantly outstrips the basic £67,200 annual salary paid to members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly (MLA).
Her case was flagged to the Stormont Assembly's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons in a meeting last year.
It comes as Andy Burnham faces pressure to take action to bring down Britain's £333bn welfare bill. The PM has announced plans to strip youth sickness benefits from young people who refuse to take part in education or training.
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A whistleblower told Sunday Life: "Many households receive a combination of payments from UC, DLA (Disability Living Allowance) and Carer’s Allowance, (and are) arguably much better off financially than their elected officials.
While they stressed that the woman's case was not fraudulent, the whistleblower stressed that there should be a "benefit cap, especially if the claimant is working".
Official statistics suggest benefit fraud in Northern Ireland fell to £170.9m in 2025, from £233m in 2024.
Unionist politician Lyons has credited this to his "zero-tolerance" approach to benefit fraud, which includes the practice of naming those who have been convicted.
However the whistleblower - a manager in a job and benefits office - questioned the official statistics, stating the £170m figure was likely the the "tip of the iceberg" with the true number probably "way higher".
They added that benefit fraud was "massive here".
"Nobody cares because the money is provided with no questions asked by central government to each of the devolved legislations.
“Finding it (benefit fraud money) would simply remove a huge amount of money from the local economy.”
The whistleblower dismissed Lyon's critique of leading party Sinn Fein for standing in the way of his efforts to crack down on fraud.
The minister previously blamed Sinn Fein for blocking his calls to allow Stormont to keep 50% of what they recovered through anti-fraud measures.
“Gordon Lyons is blaming Sinn Féin for not going along with his plans to put extra money into the fraud department, but I don’t believe that’s the answer,” the whistleblower said.
The Department for Communities said: “The comments presented are based on an individual’s personal opinion.
“The issues originally raised by the individual have been appropriately investigated, a position verified by Northern Ireland Audit Office, which has confirmed that the evidence obtained in relation to the original concerns raised by this individual indicated that fraud was being investigated within the department and this was consistent with the findings of their annual financial audit work."