Three months ago, a father-of-ten was labelled one of Bradford’s biggest benefit cheats.

Abdul Majid cheated the taxpayer out of £83,000, pocketing the equivalent of an average salary for more than four years.

In December, father-of-two Carl Priestley, from Cottingley, pleaded guilty to falsely claiming £12,372 in benefits. And this month Kurshid Begum, of Thornbury, admitted failing to declare an occupational pension while claiming benefits, and will be sentenced in April.

These successful prosecutions came as a result of the hard work of staff in Bradford’s counter-fraud team, part of the revenues and benefits service. The dedicated team of more than 20 officers are responsible for unearthing fraudulent claims, which often net thousands of pounds for those on the receiving end.

Claims for housing benefit and council tax come under their microscope, and investigations carried out in conjunction with the Department of Work and Pensions include income support, job seekers’ allowance, pension credits and incapacity benefit.

Across the country, thieves are being targeted through a series of Government TV advertisements warning them: ‘It’s not if we catch you, it’s when’.

In Bradford, and at local authorities across the UK, the process is generally triggered by referrals, whether tip-offs from the public or from other departments.

“It could be a telephone call, e-mail, or letter, and could be made anonymously,” says counter-fraud manager Harry Singh. “If the benefit service is assessing a claim and something does not add up, they will contact us. They may ask the claimant for a bank statement, see an income coming in and ask us to look into it. Or if a claim is being reassessed due to a change of circumstances, it may be passed to us.”

The most common cases involve undeclared earnings and couples who have not informed the department that they are living together. The latter make up a high proportion of calls to a special hotline, which allows members of the public to report their suspicions. “This is a vital source of information,” says Harry.

Often, people pass on very detailed information, explains Jill Hawtin, section leader with counter-fraud investigations. “They give us car registration numbers, and the times at which people enter and leave properties.”

Adds Alice Percival, section leader in revenue and benefit support: “People in the community are around at times when we can’t be there, and gather information which helps us to build up a bigger picture.”

After initial reports, follow-up investigations can include checking the address on credit cards and other documents such as Sky subscriptions, driving licence details, NHS registers and loan applications.

In some cases covert surveillance is used to ascertain facts such as whether a person uses their own house key, and whether they take children to school.

“We need to gather evidence to check whether a person is staying for odd nights, or living there,” says Harry.

Data matching is one area of investigation, in which information from the DWP is matched with that held by the counter-fraud team. Says Jill: “We look at National Insurance numbers, names, dates of birth and addresses and check for anomalies. Sometimes people have income from private pensions that they have not told us about.”

Documents from Revenue and Customs show tax on savings, and the team can request information from other sources.

After evidence is gathered, people are interviewed under caution at offices in Bradford or Keighley.

“Some people are very shaken,” says Jill, “For them it is enough of a deterrent, but others are not overly concerned.”

The team’s work is vital if cheats such as Abdul Majid are to be caught. As that case concluded, the judge, Recorder David Wilby QC, said: “The message has to go out loud and clear – people cannot get away with fiddling the system.”

Factfile

* From April 2009 to January 2010, £1.7million of overpayments made as a result of fraud across the Bradford district was uncovered by the team. Of that £700,000 was housing benefit, £500,000 income support, £200,000 council tax, £95,000 job seekers’ allowance and the remainder other benefits including pension credits.

* Last year across the UK, 56,493 benefit thieves were caught – 232 every day.

* To contact West Yorkshire’s local council benefit fraud hotline, ring 0800 1697451, or call the national hotline on 0800 854440. Calls are free and confidential. For those with speech or hearing problems, ring 0800 3280512.