100,000 calls to `cheat hotline'

A national hotline set up to encourage people to shop dole cheats has received more than 100,000 calls in just three months, it was announced yesterday. The Social Security fraud minister Oliver Heald said the National Benefit Fraud Hotline h,as, since its launch in August taken an average of 150 calls an hour from members of the public offering information.

Mr Heald, who was in Preston today to receive the 100,000th call, said a response of around 2,000 calls a week had been anticipated - but the hotline has been inundated by calls numbering four times that figure. PA