I believe that cashed orders go to an office in Belfast. I don't think they're kept for very long, probably no more than a few months, and it may be only for a very short period. I've seen a number of recent fraud investigations where the claimant has allegedly been falsely claiming for several years. The fruad officers have only produced two or three giros or orders as evidence that the claimant has received benefit, none of them going back more than 6 months. Although they only ever seem to prosecute for two or three sample offences, it would seem to me that if they had the orders going back years, it would be sensible to choose offences spread throughout the period of the alleged fraud.
I don't think that they do much more than check that orders/giros are for the correct amount and have not been obviously tampered with, befoire destroying them. If you don't raise the issue and ask them to produce the order very quickly it's probably too late.t
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