Benefit cheats steal £10m from North councils

Jan 1 2012 by Stephen Cape, Sunday Sun

BENEFIT cheats have stolen more than £10m from North councils in the last three years . . . and most of it will never be recovered.

Prosecutions, other penalties and cautions increased as unemployment rose and families were forced to tighten their belts. Some committed fraud by mistake, while others were driven by greed.

But in many cases the money is hard to recover because offenders are usually on the bread line with little spare cash.

Courts can order the benefits to be paid back at a rate of just £10 to £12 a week, meaning it will take many years to wipe the slate clean.

In other cases, bailiffs are brought in, where often little progress is made.

Cash-strapped councils in the region are working closely with other government departments to detect fraud and, across the North, thousands of investigations have been mounted by local authorities to track down offenders.

Fraud investigators said that the success of operations should serve as a warning to benefit cheats.

Jayne Henderson, head of revenues and benefits at Newcastle City Council, said: “As benefit fraud costs taxpayers millions of pounds each year, we will continue to use the law firmly against anyone that is trying to cheat the benefit system.

“We are working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and we are becoming very successful in detecting frauds, and the courts are backing up our efforts.”

The missing £10m includes housing benefit and council tax relief cheated from councils.

The figure doesn’t even include the likes of disability support fraud - that’s dealt with by the DWP.

Across the region, housing benefit prosecutions have increased in the last three years.