Eastleigh Council is stepping up its war on benefit fraudsters by urging the public to shop the cheat by using a hotline.

The authority has already made big inroads into cracking down on fraud and it has already saved the borough thousands of pounds.

Last year its team of supersleuths stopped swindlers from getting benefits which would have added up to £150,000.

Nationally, benefit fraud cost taxpayers millions of pounds each year.

Eastleigh Council says it is committed to wiping out housing and council tax fraud.

And in recent years it has taken various measures to detect and reduce the level of fraud in the borough.

These have included the introduction of more vigorous checks on claims for benefit and matching the council's records with those of other government departments to detect irregularities. Now the council has joined forces with the National Fraud Hotline in a bid to net even greater numbers of benefit fraudsters.

Head of the council's revenue and benefits team Loraine Radford says: " By making use of the hotline we will increase the methods and opportunities by which the public can let us know about benefit cheats."

And in an appeal to the public she says: "If you think someone is committing benefit fraud it is important that you let us know so that both the national and our own local teams of investigators can pursue the information you have.

"The National Fraudline is an easy and confidential way for you to pass any details on to us."

With the slogan "Benefit cheats - Don't let them get away with it " the simple message is to ring the benefit fraud hotline on 0800 3286340 or textphone on 0800 3286341.

You can also write to the hotline at PO Box No 647, Preston PRI 1WA.