MORE benefit cheats are being shopped by members of the public.

Neighbours, colleagues and bosses are picking up the telephone to call Middlesbrough Borough Council to spill the beans about housing and council tax fraudsters.

Town hall investigators received almost 1,000 referrals from the public, employers and other agencies during the past year - an increase of more than 50 per cent on the previous 12 months.

The tip-offs helped council investigators recover more than £1m in fraudulently-claimed benefit over the past year.

The department had set itself a target for the year of saving £524,000 by uncovering and stopping housing and council tax benefit fraud, but found they saved the public purse £1.035m.

A spokesman for the council, which prosecutes benefits deceivers, said: "People, basically, do get fed up when they see people bucking the system."

Councillor Sylvia Connolly, the council's commissioner for resources, said: "The investigation team plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of the benefits system.

"Their continued success is a stark warning to those who try to cheat the public, that they will be caught and prosecuted.

"The message is getting through that people who defraud the benefit system are really making things harder for the vast majority of people who are on benefits through absolutely no fault of their own.''

The fraud investigation unit is now part of the HBS Service public-private partnership with the council.

A key development in the unit's performance is a new incentive scheme by the DSS for the effective prosecution of fraud, and in involving all benefit staff in preventing incorrect benefit payments.

Brendan Brown, head of revenues and benefits for HBS Service, Middlesbrough, said: "Our record on fraud prevention and detection is one of the many strengths that we will build on.

" As the figures show, we have been consistently successful in ensuring the system's integrity.

"We will certainly be in a good position to reap the rewards promised by government to those organisations which show a pro-active approach, work in partnership with other agencies, and make sure that beating fraud is everyone's business," said Mr Brown.