Fresh call to help beat the cheats

12.56.47pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 25th Jul 2008

• A FRESH reminder to residents to call the 24-hour hotline if they suspect fraud against the Council has been issued this week.

The overwhelming majority of benefit claimants are people in genuine need and the Council does all it can to provide them with help, support and advice. But the minority who abuse the system have been warned that they will be caught. The Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Stephen Knight said:

"These benefits provide vital support and the vast majority of claimants are in genuine need, many of whom rely entirely on benefit money. We do everything possible to help them resolve their problems. For instance, we are part of the Richmond Community Partnership (consisting of the London Borough of Richmond, The Pension Service and Age Concern) and we work together to maximize customer benefits. But we also do all we can to root out fraudsters. We are committed to preventing and identifying this crime and ensuring that money goes where it's intended - to genuine claimants. We won't hesitate to prosecute those who cheat the system and our investigation team has a good track record in bringing the culprits to justice."