MORE THAN 5,000 households in Blackburn and Darwen could be illegally claiming a 25 per cent discount off their council tax.

The revelation comes as the council prepares to launch a crackdown on cheats fraudulently claiming single person council tax benefit. It comes as figures were released showing the number of cases dealt with by council's benefit investigation unit rose by 20 per cent for the last fiscal year, ending in March 2006.

An amnesty has been declared until Christmas for people wrongly claiming the benefit - but prosecutions will start in the new year.

The exercise will cost about £20,000, but although the council could not say how much would be saved in the long run - because claimants were on different tax rates - opposition councillors put the figure in the hundreds of thousands.

The council will use a credit referencing agency to find out how many adults are carrying out transactions from an address and cross reference it with its own database.

Bosses said that 35 per cent of the borough's 59,300 households claimed the benefit, which equates to about 20,755 homes.

Chiefs said in other areas of the country where similar checks had been carried out 25 to 30 per cent of people were wrongly receiving the benefit, which would be between 5,000 and 6,000 in the case of the borough.

If found guilty of fraudulently claiming the discount courts usually impose fines, but community service and jail can be given in serious cases.

Last year the council's benefit investigation unit received 840 fraud referrals, and there were 119 prosecutions or the imposition of sanctions - which recovered a total of £228,400.

Council bosses said the majority of these were people claiming unemployment or incapacity benefit.

Households where only one adult is judged to be living in the household receive a 25 per cent discount off their council tax bill.

On the average band D home this equates to about £330 off a £1,319.59 bill.

Councillor Dave Harling, executive member for resources, said: "The majority of our Council tax bill payers register their details correctly and are paying what they should.

"But a minority of those claiming discount are doing so when they are actually sharing a house with another adult.

"Equally there may be a number of people who are not aware of the discount and may not actually be claiming it."

He urged either group to get in touch.

"If everyone pays the right amount then it means more money for the Council, which means reduced pressure on the budget and the result is lower council tax," he added.

Coun Michael Lee, deputy leader of the Tory opposition and spokesman on finances, said: "It's no different from theft and it is not a victimless crime.

"I have no qualms about going after these people, I think it's a good idea.

"If there are less people claiming the discount it should mean we all pay less council tax."

Visit www.blackburn.gov.uk or call the council's helpline on 0845 070 1066 for more information.