5. To Catch a Cheat?
Aired: 2/25/1997
A government hotline set up last year, invited the public to help catch benefit fraudsters who each year cost the DSS three billion pounds. Inside Story looks at how fraud investigators raid suspect businesses, descend upon the homes of alleged cheats and check the thousands of anonymous tip-offs which flood the hotline each week. This documentary ponders the incidence of people in the UK claiming single parent benefits from the state whilst continuing to see their partners. Concentrates on the efforts of two regional fraud offices, in Hull and East London, to recoup some of the millions lost by the DSS in benefit fraud every year.