A benefits fraudster who claimed he was housebound has been jailed after receiving £18,000 while fit enough to coach a football team. Andrew Vincent, a Staffordshire grandad, had claimed Personal Independence Payments from 2017 after suffering from prolapsed lower back disks.

The 62-year-old told the DWP he was housebound, couldn’t walk 20 metres and required assistance to walk and go to the toilet, and he received £18,000 in PIP. However, his condition appeared to have improved since he first lodged his claim, and the 62-year-old was caught on camera by undercover DWP officials coaching the Roaring Meg’s pub football team in Biddulph, Staffordshire. He was filmed walking around the pitch, lifting heavy equipment and standing for long periods, the court heard.

Addressing Mr Vincent, recorder Robert Smith said: “It is clear that your communications with the DWP went only one way. You were only interested in conversations that would make you money and that was it.”

He added: “Benefit fraud is an offence that strikes at the heart of our welfare state. Disabled people who need money struggle because of greedy fraudsters like you. This offence is so serious that the only fitting punishment is immediate imprisonment.”

Mr Smith said he was satisfied the original claim was valid but highlighted that the 62-year-old had repeatedly been told he must report any improvement in condition.

He said: “But later on, you complained you had a frozen shoulder while making no mention of the fact you were running up a football pitch.”

The court heard that Mr Vincent notified the DWP of back problems in September 2017 and that he couldn’t stand for more than a minute or walk more than 20 metres.

Then, in November of the same year, he was awarded the higher rate of PIP “usually reserved for wheelchair users or others suffering with mobility issues”.

In 2021, the prosecution said the grandad complained of a frozen shoulder, and said he still needed crutches to go to the toilet.

“At this time, he was actually coaching a football club,” prosecutor Jaz Dhaliwal added. He said Mr Vincent was told he must report any changes to the DWP, but had “failed to disclose his true condition”.

Andrew Vincent was sentenced to six months in prison and has been ordered to pay repay the fraudulant £18,080 overpayment in monthly £60 reductions from his Universal Credit claims, Stoke on Trent Live reports.