DISTRICT VIEW

摘要

Communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has urged councils to do more to tackle fraud. Taken at face value, this seems right. Fraud costs money which, in any economic climate, would be better spent on customers' priorities. Nor should council taxpayers fund fraud by or for people who aren't in genuine need of help from the benefits system. However, by the same token, there is a need to strike a balance in the system and ensure that all those people - or as many as possible - who are entitled to receive benefits, do so. It is a judgment call, in terms of rational deployment of resources across meeting customer need, and fighting frauds.