HUNDREDS of benefits cheats who pocketed £3.7 million in illegal payments have been exposed in a crackdown on bogus claims.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has stepped up action on fraud and has now prosecuted 200 people through the courts; with at least 36 receiving prison sentences.

Now the authority has pledged to spend £210,000 beefing up its anti-fraud team amid concerns national benefit reform will tempt more residents to cheat the system.

Figures obtained by The Sentinel show:

Housing and council tax benefit fraud is on the increase. There were 59 prosecutions and 91 penalties and cautions in 2010/11 with overpayments of £505,181 identified, rising to 68 prosecutions and 97 penalties with £716,000 in overpayments for 2011/12 so far;

The authority has become one of the most successful in the country for tackling housing tenancy fraud like illegal sub-letting of council houses. A total of 44 properties have been recovered since a crackdown began in March with a further eight 'notices to quit' served and 11 cases awaiting court action;

Last year a total of 1,421 people were discovered claiming a 25 per cent single person's discount on council tax despite not being entitled to it, costing the council £519,415 in underpaid tax;

A four-year project to root out couples who claim to live at separate addresses to claim higher benefits has identified £1.8 million in overpayments. A total of 73 people have been prosecuted, 22 of them receiving prison sentences, while a further 30 separate cases are awaiting court dates.

All of the cash is now being recovered through the courts or fixed repayment plans.

The authority relies on tip-offs from residents in most cases, but also carries out its own investigations and uses the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to spy on false claim suspects.

Paul Bicknell, corporate fraud manager at the city council, said: "It's only right and proper we see fraud as a priority.

"We have a duty of care to the public purse and to our citizens. The majority of them are taxpayers, and the majority of them support us taking this action."

One individual found guilty of falsely claiming to live alone had been overpaid by £63,626, while an ongoing case is expected to find another person wrongly claimed up to £100,000.

A man was also found to have claimed £5,000 to fund the care of his sick father after he had died.

Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance, said: "By adopting a zero tolerance approach we are showing residents what we expect of them."

How we covered the council prosecutions

How the figures break down...

Undercover operation targets illegal tenants