BENEFIT claimants in Bury will take ‘lie detector’ tests to see if they are trying to swindle the system.

As of this week, Bury will pilot a hi-tech phone line which aims to root out fraudulent claims.

The system will be used for housing and council tax benefit claims only, and callers will be told they are being monitored when they first ring.

Bury is among 18 councils to try out the government’s Voice Risk Analysis Technology project.

This identifies changes in people’s voices, or hesitation, which will flag up a warning to staff that callers may be giving wrong information.

Council bosses say this should speed up claims from most claimants. They will be deemed ‘low risk’ and not have to provide so many detailed documents (rent books, wage slips etc) to back up their claim, or face as many checks.

The system will flag up ‘higher risk’ cases, which will prompt staff to take a more detailed look at these claims.

People will still be able to apply for benefits online or face to face.

Councillor Peter Redstone, executive member for resource, said: “The great thing about this technology is that it does not take the decision away from the member of staff as they still have the final say over the decision.

“People have told us that benefit fraud is a big concern and hopefully this new system will help identify cases of higher risk so they can be looked at in more detail.

“As the majority of cases are of low risk this new system will help improve efficiency and ensure high customer service.”