A PENSIONER says she wonders why it took so long to discover lie detector technology use to try and catch benefit cheats, didn’t work.

Maureen Coulson, 66, from Bexleyheath, was one of a number of people who were accused by Bexley Council of lying, after undergoing an interview using the software called Voice Risk Analysis (VRA).

Bexley was one of several local authorities trialling VRA for the Department for Work and Pensions, for potential use in catching benefit cheats.

In common with a number of others, Mrs Coulson was accused of falsely claiming the single person’s discount on her council tax because Bexley believed, on the strength of a telephone interview using VRA, she was not living on her own.

But the suggestion was proved to be untrue, and her benefit was restored.

Now the government department has dropped the software because it says the trials have shown it was “not sufficiently reliable”.

Mrs Coulson said: ”I am glad Bexley has now given it up.

“There must have been far more people than me wrongly caught up in it.”

She added: “VRA made things far more complicated than they needed to be.

“There must have been easier, more reliable ways of checking up on people, such a a personal visit.”

Only one of the authorities who tested VRA to spot cheats during benefit reviews, thought it had been successful.

Following the trial, Bexley continued to use it to assess single person’s discount for council tax.

But it says it was not the authority which considered VRA to be a success.

A spokeswoman said the council’s judgement had been the results were unclear and the system needed more testing.

She said Bexley dropped the use of VRA in August.