Saints and Scroungers (2009)
Saints and Scroungers is a British television programme about welfare benefits. It is broadcast on BBC One and is currently presented by Matt Allwright since 2013, although the show was originally presented by Dominic Littlewood from 2009-2012. It focuses on two groups of people: the vulnerable who need help and those who help them 'saints' and fraudulent claimants 'scroungers'. The series is repeated in the UK on Crime & Investigation Network.
-
Episode 1 - Melia/Hunter
Release Date: 2012-01-02Life is tough for 30-year-old Kerry; her husband is unemployed, and she has a growing family to look after. Kerry relies on child tax credit. But her family has been growing rapidly, and her tax credit income has swollen to more than 30,000 per year; the HMRC fraud investigators pay her a visit. Also, Dom meets 71-year-old Ken, who has lost a leg and recently been widowed. The last thing he wants to do is move to a care home, but adapting his own home to suit his needs now will be costly.
-
Episode 2 - Kamara/Carlson
Release Date: 2012-01-03Croydon Council suspect UK taxpayers have been footing the bill for a young couple and their child to live in their borough as illegal immigrants for over a decade. They also think taxpayers have contributed more than 80,000 pounds in benefits, which the couple have used to set up shop in their homeland, along with a fish farm, a goat farm and a house. And Dom meets the parents of baby William, whose severe disabilities have left him facing an uncertain future.
-
Episode 3 - Bowden/King
Release Date: 2012-01-04Hammersmith and Fulham Council investigate one landlady and her tenant whose relationship is a little too close for their comfort. It is costing them more than 90,000 pounds in false benefit claims. And Dom meets dedicated carer Kemille, who looks after her nan and three growing boys of her own and works nights in a hostel. These duties are taking their toll on Kemille's health, and she needs help - fast.
-
Episode 4 - Beiden/Dowding
Release Date: 2012-01-05Forty-six-year-old Jennifer has been living the high life holidaying in the Caribbean and Canada, but she told Newham Council that she was a single mother, struggling to make ends meet after her boyfriend left her. Now investigators are hot on her tail to track down the 75,000 pounds of benefits they have paid her. And Dom meets Kate, a brave young woman who has battled all her life to achieve her dream of becoming a laywer.
-
Episode 5 - Jones/Stuart
Release Date: 2012-01-06Keeping up with the Joneses is no easy task for fraud investigators in Croydon as they try to unravel how a conniving couple have raked in nearly 70,000 pounds in benefits they are not entitled to. According to a tip-off, Mr Jones may be faking disability and working under a stolen identity. And Dom meets Eunice from Bristol. She is elderly and frail and her house is no longer suitable, but she is adamant she wants to stay in her home of 25 years. How can she afford to make it safe and comfortable for her old age?
-
Episode 6 - McKnight/Ford
Release Date: 2012-01-09Looking after a disabled husband and three disabled children is no easy task, so 45-year-old Jayne has been getting a helping hand from the taxpayer in the form of tax credits. But the bill is mounting, and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs investigators are suspicious. They are right to be suspicious, as Jayne's imagination seems to have run away with her to the tune of over a hundred grand. And Dom meets Chris, who lost his sight in a random brutal attack. Putting his life back together is no easy task, but help is at hand.
-
Episode 7 - Fayoyin/Craig
Release Date: 2012-01-10In these cash-strapped times, stealing from the NHS is about as low as you can go. Fraud investigators track down a missing care home, and the criminal mastermind whose devious scam robbed her local Primary Care Trust of over 117,000 pounds. And Dom meets John, a young sportsman who refuses to be defined by his blindness.
-
Episode 8 - Bibi/Barker
Release Date: 2012-01-1161-year-old Amtul Bibi claimed to be a single woman struggling to pay her rent. But fraud investigators from Newham Council suspect she is not single at all, and that she and her husband have been happily ripping off the taxpayer to the tune of more than 50,000 pounds. And Dom meets Christine, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. As a working single woman, she is responsible for her bills - how will she cope financially while she is ill?
-
Episode 9 - Lee Jones/Driscoll
Release Date: 2012-01-12Fraud investigators target a woman who is trying to hide her real identity. But will a tale of two birth certificates and some undercover surveillance prove this Jamaican citizen is scrounging off the British taxpayer? And Dom meets Rachel and her family who, despite working all hours, are struggling to keep their heads above water.
-
Episode 10 - Blyth and West/Morgan
Release Date: 2012-01-13Maria is a single mum on benefits, but is she living a double life? An anonymous tip-off suggests she is living with a partner, and fraud investiagators suspect she has claimed more than 60,000 pounds in benefits she is not entitled to. And Dom meets Sandra, who has worked her whole life but now cannot get a job.
-
Episode 11 - Guthrie/Charlery
Release Date: 2012-01-16Investigators have their work cut out keeping track of a maze of properties and names being used by a north London family gang of fraudsters to steal thousands of pounds a month in benefits. And Dom meets 29-year-old Damien, who has spent his life coping with a learning disability and a speech impediment. He wants to work and support his family but opportunities are few and far between.
-
Episode 12 - Abdulle/Jordan
Release Date: 2012-01-17Investigators are on the trail of a fake asylum seeker who is not only dishonestly claiming benefits at home but also abroad - using a dual identity. And Dom meets Dorothea, who is struggling to bring up her family alone after her husband's death. With two of her children suffering from ADHD, she has got her work cut out.
-
Episode 13 - Virokaitis/Bell
Release Date: 2012-01-18Investigators from her Majesty's Revenue and Customs track an unscrupulous gang, who are bringing women and children over from Lithuania and using them to steal over three-million pounds in false benefit claims. And Dom meets Charlotte, who was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour at the age of 16. Surgery and the treatment that followed it tested Charlotte and her family to their limits. Children's charity CLIC Sargent helped them through it.
-
Episode 14 - Olayeye/Emerson
Release Date: 2012-01-19A pair of tax credit stealing scroungers finally get their dues after nearly two decades of abusing the benefit system - to the tune of £150,000. Investigators have their work cut out unravelling their tangled web of lies involving 16 fictitious children and four properties. And Dom meets a ex-soldier with post traumatic stress disorder who is battling to set up a charity to help others in the same situation.
-
Episode 15 - Hudson/Barnett
Release Date: 2012-01-20The net closes in on a Rochdale dentist who shamelessly stole over 307,000 pounds from the NHS despite already earning a six figure salary. Fraud investigators are grappling with one of the most audacious and cynical attempts to defraud the NHS they have ever come across. And Dom meets 19-year-old Ella. She has had a rough start in life. In care at 13, by 16 she was dossing in a B&B with alcoholics and drug addicts - it was only thanks to the prompt actions of her social worker that she was plucked to safety. Can she make something of her life?
-
Episode 16 - Mafuta/Charters
Release Date: 2012-01-23Fraud investigators in Southend are hot on the trail of a charity worker who they suspect has been lining her own pockets with £31,000 of illegally claimed benefits. And Dom meets a devoted husband and son, who cared for his terminally ill wife and elderly mother, then found himself in dire need. The saints at Age UK North Tyneside are on hand to help.
-
Episode 17 - Austin/Woods
Release Date: 2012-01-24Fraud investigators in Havering are reeling after discovering the biggest benefits scam in the council's history - a married mother of two, who pretended to be single in order to swindle them out of over £140,000 worth of benefits.
-
Episode 18 - Ali/Clarke
Release Date: 2012-01-25A disabled father of six is suspected of claiming £174,000 in benefits while sitting on over £100,000 in savings across 13 undeclared bank accounts. And Dom meets Laura and her daughter Poppy, who has been diagnosed as profoundly deaf. How will Laura cope with Poppy's disability?
-
Episode 19 - Al-Azawi/Bowley
Release Date: 2012-01-26Mahira fled her home country of Iraq and sought asylum here in the UK. Investigators now suspect she has been using false identities to steal thousands from the benefit system - creating a property empire and putting her son through private school at the expense of the taxpayer.
-
Episode 20 - Evans/Lambert
Release Date: 2012-01-27Fraud investigators in South Gloucestershire are shocked to discover that a single mother who has claimed £62,000 in benefits has a taste for very expensive motors. When it turns out that she also has a surprisingly healthy bank account, officers conclude there is something dodgy going on with her benefit claims. And Dom meets Wayne, who is struggling to care for his wife and their young son. Michelle suffered a major epileptic seizure just months after their son was born and now needs constant care and support. Charity Home-Start steps in to help Wayne cope.