Last November's Spending Review has again put local government finances under the microscope. Like many councils, Pendle faces the challenge of needing to ‘do more with less'. One area where we have attempted to follow this mantra is revenue and benefits collection, an important task for local government.

As a council it is important benefits are paid correctly and to the right claimants. Fraud and error within the system can result in claimants being paid incorrectly, and at the same time this isn't fair on the tax-payer.