Jacqueline Hague pleaded guilty to six counts of benefit fraud at Sheffield Crown Court
A benefits adviser who fraudulently claimed £68,000 in social security payments has been jailed for 16 months.
Jacqueline Hague, 69, worked as a volunteer at Manor Park Advice Centre, Sheffield, where her role included helping people make benefit claims.
Sheffield Crown Court heard she wrongly claimed the money over a 13-year period by concealing her husband's employment.
Hague, of Mansfield Drive, Sheffield, was jailed having previously admitted six counts of benefit fraud.
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Prosecutor David Baines told the court Hague's offending began in February 2001 and ran to September 2014.
"The defendant obtained various social security benefit payments, parts of which she was not entitled to by reason of her husband working," he said.
"She either failed to disclose [this fact] or made false statements."
He said her husband had been working continuously since 1983.
'Enormous amount of money'
The court heard she had begun claiming benefits as she was "struggling to meet the household bills" after losing her job.
Jailing the great-grandmother Judge Peter Kelson QC said: "This is the kind of sentencing exercise that judges dread.
"I know from your [lack] of criminal record that your will never offend again and I know that you are a much loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
"But, whilst I know that, my duty does not stop there; my duty on behalf of the public is to mark your offending and the public would be horrified if I overlooked someone who had effectively stolen £68,000 from the state.
"It is an enormous amount of money over an enormous period of time and I can't overlook that."
