11:51am Thursday 21st January 2010
By Simon Carr
SPY on your neighbours and earn hard cash.
That is the accusation being levelled at a Hampshire council, which has promised to pay a bounty of £200 for residents to shop neighbours who illegally sublet their homes.
The latest crackdown on benefit cheats has been launched with the help of a £10,000 government grant that will be used to pay informants who are prepared to turn their neighbours in. Authorities across the south have signed up to the scheme, but so far only Fareham Borough Council will use the cash to reward informants.
But the move has sparked criticism for encouraging people to spy.
Lib Dem councillor Roger Price said: “This is just over the top and wrong, it is big brotherish.
“You can’t offer to pay people to go around spying on their neighbours.
Good honest citizens should be reporting these things out of a sense of civic duty, it’s not quite a bribe but it is an inducement.We are always hearing that we have to be good neighbours but this seems to fly in the eyes of that, trying to get people to turn on each other.”
He went on to say he could foresee financial risks where dishonest people would make unfounded allegations to cash in and the authority would waste time and money investigating.
Other councils who have signed up said they would be using the cash for publicity and administration purposes.
Despite this fierce criticism from within its ranks the Torycontrolled council remained resolute.
Executive member for community, Councillor Connie Hockley, said: “This is not spying we are just asking people to do the right thing. Some people wouldn’t report neighbours for fear of repercussions or not wanting to get involved, maybe now they will.
“I am for anything that will stop this kind of illegal activity, how would you feel if you were living in a bedsit while other people rented out council houses they were supposed to be living in. Matthew Elliott, TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive, said: “Subletting is a big problem, but paying hefty bribes to informants is an unnecessarily costly way to deal with it.”
To find out more about the scheme or shop a neighbour see the related links below or call the council on 01329 236100.
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