Kimberley Louise Tonkin-Innis was paid an average of $2,400 a fortnight between December 2013 and February 2018, the bulk of which came from her casual then part-time job with FACS.

She earned a total of $264,000 during that period but only declared a fraction of that income to social services, while still claiming a single parenting payment.

Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court said the 40-year-old told Centrelink her gross pay for that time period was $76,600 – an under-declaration of almost $190,000.

Meanwhile, Centrelink paid Tonkin-Innis $68,000 in parenting payments, in accordance with her declared income.

When recalculated, the department found she should only have been paid $7,500, equating to an overpayment of $60,900.

The anomaly was detected during a data match operation carried out between the Department of Human Services and the tax office in July 2017.

Investigators wrote to Tonkin-Innis in April this year inviting her to be interviewed but one did not take place.

She was charged with obtaining a financial advantage by deception, to which she pleaded guilty in court.

During her sentencing hearing, Tonkin-Innis told the court through her lawyer she hadn’t been living a lavish lifestyle and had used the money to pay for household and education expenses.

She also wrote a letter of apology to the court and confirmed she had already repaid the outstanding amount in full.

Magistrate Peter Thompson handed Tonkin-Innis a 14-month prison sentence but agreed to suspend it on account of her remorse.

“She made no attempts to hide the fraud, nor was there any sophistication to it – it’s clear on any audit she would have been detected,” he said.

“I accept she is truly remorseful and was suffering financial hardship at the time.”