Discovered benefit fraud leaps in the East Riding

Benefits claims worth more than £550,000 which should not have been paid have been uncovered in East Yorkshire.

Between October 2010 and September 2011, East Riding Council identified people responsible for unpaid council tax and wrongly claimed housing benefit worth £556,731.

That is discovered fraud only, and only council tax & housing benefit. It compares with £265,508 from October 2009 to September 2010.

It comes after investigators introduced new techniques and saw an increase in tip-offs.

Jeff Taylor, East Riding Council's principal fraud investigation and enforcement officer, said: "We're getting a lot better at catching people and members of the public don't like it when people are cheating the system, especially not if they, themselves, are struggling to make ends meet."

Mr Taylor said despite the increase in the value of wrongly paid claims being uncovered, he believed the problem was on the increase because of the current financial climate.

"There is more pressure on people and maybe some of them decide they won't declare the bit of work they are doing or the change in their circumstances," he said.

East Riding investigators now use data to compare information with other councils as well as accessing individual employment records, bank accounts and information held by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mr Taylor said: "We can access people's undeclared bank accounts which helps us find out if they are in work or not.

"In the past, it might have taken us a few months to get that kind of information. Now, it comes through much more quickly."

The council also has a dedicated hotline set up so that people can identify benefits cheats.

Mr Taylor said: "Every time we put out a release about someone being prosecuted for benefit fraud, our hotline gets people calling up.

"Sometimes, people cheating the system have been boasting about how they are getting away with it and that's how they get caught."