As a Star Wars fanatic the idea of real life ‘bounty hunters’ fascinates me, so my attention was grasped by the Government’s announcement today that they would pay compensation to professional private persons to find and capture benefit fraudsters.

In a scheme similar to crimestoppers - where if you call up and report someone who has committed a crime and if they are convicted you are given monetary compensation/reward – here, if you can catch a benefit thief for the Government then you are given compensation.  In a way it is similar to a ‘no win, no fee’ payment for professional bounty hunters!

David Cameron is hopeful the scheme will save £1billion in fraudulently claimed benefit.  It comes on the back of his recent comment on the amount of fraud in the economy as “absolutely outrageous” and shows real intent on the part of the Conservative government.

These bounty hunters would be backed by the Department of Work and Pensions and all checks will be compliant with the Data Protection Act.