THE PUBLIC has snubbed a special council hotline set up to shop local benefit cheats.

Only seven cases have been reported to the anonymous hotline and, of the three that were followed up, none led to prosecutions.

The low response to the shop-a-cheat hotline has been revealed in a Government report which says the city council's housing benefit administration must be improved.

The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's report insists that the council must urgently improve its management information and management checking systems.

And the inspector also recommends the council backs its commitment to cracking down on fraud with action.

The fraud hotline was launched in a blaze of publicity last September and, although not one prosecution has been made, council chiefs claim it is not a failure.

Although the report was critical in a number of areas, they were relieved that it was not as damning as some other local authorities.

Chairman of revenues and benefits, Cllr Carol Broad, said: "The council is determined to deliver a quality benefits service while also ensuring that benefit is only paid to those entitled to receive it and I am pleased that the inspectorate have recognised our commitment to this."

"I acknowledge that further work is required in some area and welcome the fact that the external review has brought this to our attention. We will be addressing the outstanding issues as soon as possible and in drawing up the Action Plan we will look at what further resources and systems we need to put in place."

The city council is responsible for the administration of £30.7 million of housing benefit and council tax benefit.