NEW tactics to detect the sincerity of benefit claimants have resulted in a huge rise in the number of cheats prosecuted, figures have shown.
The number of people reported last year for making a range of fraudulent claims rose to 49 – a jump of more than 100 per cent from 2007/08.
Council officials have hailed the improvement and put it down largely to novel techniques such as the use o
f lie detectors during interviews, and closer working with the national Department of Work and Pensions.
Among the cases prosecuted was a woman who illegally claimed £15,000 in benefits. She was sentenced to 240 hours of community service, and a man who was found guilty of claiming £6,500 in benefits received a similar punishment.
The rise comes after the council's revenues and benefits division struck up a partnership with the UK Government to pool resources and share information.
It means that they can compare people who have made single occupancy claims on council tax – for a 25 per cent discount – but who live at homes where requests for things like mobile phones and credit cards have been made in other names.
Cliff Dryburgh, revenues services manager for the council, said: "A lot of it has to do with intent.
"We have a few measures in place, including lie detectors, to see how much people knew about what they were stealing.
"Sometimes it can just be the case that it was a mistake, perhaps someone filled in a form about earnings or savings incorrectly, but other times it isn't."
He added that while it was impossible to assess just how much benefit theft across the city was going undetected, he hoped to record a similar rise in next year's figures. It is estimated that benefit cheats cost the city's economy around £6 million a year. Disability allowance and incapacity benefit fraudsters were not included as part of the findings of this report.
Conservative councillor Allan Jackson, convener of the council's audit committee, said: "A joined-up approach to tackling fraud has really paid dividends for the council and staff have uncovered some shocking incidents of deception and fraud.
"The vast majority of people who receive benefits are entitled to them but sadly, a minority of people deliberately set out to defraud the system.
"These cheats need to know that when they are found out, the council will take tough action against them and in many cases they will be reported to the procurator fiscal. The council will do all that it can to get the money back.
"We have found that people are willing to report benefit fraud because it costs the whole community.
"Benefit cheats take money that could be redirected to vital services such as schools, street cleaning and social care."
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