TAX cheats and benefits fraudsters beware - finance matchings are likely to come knocking at your door.

That's the findings of two independent studies into how Town Hall officials collect taxes and crack down on people who try to swindle housing and council tax benefit payments.

Benefits fraud is estimated to have cost Warrington taxpayers around £736,000 last year - with people claiming from false addresses, giving bogus details about their family or not telling the truth about their income.

Over the past 12 months alone, council investigators have found evidence of fraud in 685 cases they dealt with.

District auditors found Warrington even surpassed larger neighbouring authorities when it came to making people pay their dues as taxmen and women were successful in 97.4 per cent of cases.

Benefit handouts, helping townsfolk to pay their rents and council tax, amount to nearly £29 million annually. And fraud is a significant problem for Warrington, like most Town Halls, councillors have been told.

But auditors discovered Warrington identified the highest level of fraud compared to Greater Manchester councils.

Corporate resources director Peter Carey, commenting on the benefits survey, said: "Fraud staff and their section manager are very pleased with the outcome of this report."

The investigation showed management improvements in the fraud section and work to train other departments in fraud detection would further improve the service and help save more cash.

Mr Carey was confident new measures were in place, including a new computer system, to meet these demands.

He added: "On the whole, it is a very positive report and we came out of it very well. Those small areas where there are suggestions for improvements are being addressed."

Referring to the tax study, Mr Carey said: "We achieved a very good score on all the performance indicators."

Auditors discovered Warrington was swift to issue reminders when tax payments were missed, starting inquiries after just seven days.

But the follow-up period has been extended to 21 days, in line with other authorities, which has reduced the amount of "hostile" correspondence between defaulters and officers.

Welcoming the reports, corporate resources chairman Clr Geoff Orange said external auditors had found Warrington's systems of dealing with fraud and taxes were "very good."

"In terms of collecting taxes and tackling benefits fraud, this can only be good for the people of Warrington," added Clr Orange.

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