A NURSE’S career could be in tatters after she claimed more than £2,000 in benefits as a lone mum after her partner had moved in.

Burnley magistrates were told how mother-of-one Lauren Jacques, 23, had been in receipt of income support and housing benefit after declaring she was a single parent.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But she was living with Daniel Ellison, the father of her child, and had kept quiet about it.

Jacques was found out when Mr Ellison told his bosses where he was living and the Department for Work and Pensions became aware.

Jacques, who now works as an NHS bank nurse as well as studying at university, may lose her career because of the offences.

The defendant, of Rosehill Road, Burnley, admitted two counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances – one relating to housing benefit from Burnley Borough Council, between August 19 and November 24, 2013, and one involving income support from the DWP, between August 12 and December 12, 2013.

She was fined £80, with £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Prosecutor Parveen Akhtar said Jacques had at first been entitled to claim income support and housing benefit for herself and her child as a single parent.

But, between August and December last year she was receiving benefits while ‘maintaining a common household’ with Mr Ellison and had not told the authorities about her change in circumstances. She was overpaid £2,165.95.

Rachel Cleary, defending, said Mr Ellison had left Jacques when she was seven months pregnant in 2010 and, until August 2013, they had been leading separate lives. He had not provided any financial support.

The defendant went on maternity leave and, in 2012, started college. She started claiming income support when her maternity pay finished. She was a single parent who had had no contact with Mr Ellison for three years.

Mrs Cleary said in August, 2013, their child started to be unwell and Mr Ellison stepped in and agreed he would help out while she was studying.

Mrs Cleary added: “It’s very likely she will lose her career, which she has been working for since 2012. She is now in a position to clear the debt she owes to the DWP. It was not a fraud from the outset and hadn't been going on a long time.”