BURNLEY Council recouped £170,000 in overpaid benefits in the past 12 months thanks to the work by its fraud investigation team.

The council’s specialist unit prosecuted 13 people last year for benefit fraud, and issued 44 administrative penalties to other false claimants, fining them 30 per cent of the overpayment.

Four cautions were also issued following investigations.

The figures were slightly below the council’s figure for last year and its target for next year.

A total of 835 referrals were received by the investigation team in 2009/10, with 252 of them being investigate, and 13 going to court.

Caroline Lee, head of revenues and benefits at Burnley Council, said in a report informing councillors of the work of the fraud team: “In 2009/10, the team dealt with 61 sanctions and prosecutions in total.

“This figure is slightly lower than the 66 sanctions and prosecutions achieved in 2008/09. However, for most of this year the team were operating with a reduce team.

“The target for next year is a total of 70 sanctions and prosecutions.

“There are just two full time fraud officers on the team now. One of our benefit officers is gaining some development experience on the team and this will help to build in some resilience for the future.”