MORE than £320,000 in benefits has been fraudulently claimed in East Lindsey in the last nine months.

In total, 72 benefit cheats were caught by the district council during that period with the biggest fraudster, from Alford, being successfully prosecuted for claiming £58,325 too much for failing to declare a partner living in the household.

District-wide 16,818 people currently claim benefits totalling around £40-million per year, the majority being legitimate claims.

However, the Target has also discovered that the number of people prosecuted for council tax or housing benefit fraud alone, doubled in just 12 months.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 15 people were brought before the courts for the offences in 2009/10 compared to 30 in 2010/11.

However East Lindsey District Council, who brought the prosecutions, says the figures don't necessarily mean fraud is on the increase.

A spokesman for the authority said: "The council has a dedicated Fraud Team who are very experienced in detecting, investigating and proving fraud offences.

"Each year, advances in technology and data matching techniques make it harder for benefit cheats to avoid detection and fraudsters need to be aware that our success in this area is growing.

"The increasing number of prosecutions last year is a measure of this improved performance.

"Eradicating fraud and error from the benefits system is a high priority for us and the present Government. We currently have a number of investigations ongoing and we have a close working relationship with investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions."

Further figures released to the Target also show that the number of Liability Orders, obtained through the courts for non-payment of council tax is on the increase.

In 2008/09, 3,795 orders were obtained compared to 4,582 in 2009/10 and 4,197 in 2010/11.

The orders give the authority several powers to recover the money it is owed.

The spokesman said: "If a customer is in a position to settle the debt in full once a Liability Order has been obtained we would expect them to do so.

"However, this is very often not the case and so where possible we seek to make suitable payment arrangements with those customers to clear their debt within a reasonable period of time, based on their income. Where the customer has either not made a payment arrangement or not kept to payments as agreed the council will then seek to enforce collection of the debt by using the most appropriate method available based on information held."

ELDC is appealing to local people to come forward if they suspect someone to be claiming benefits they are not entitled to by calling the 24-hour fraud hotline on 0800 002008. Reports can also be made at www.e-lindsey.gov.uk