Stoke-on-Trent City Council has revealed 108 cases of fraud were perpetrated against the local authority last year.
In the council’s audit and standards committee meeting last Thursday, officers found that the incidents cost the local authority roughly £2.7m in the year 2024/25, but the total number of cases had reduced compared to the previous year’s 142.
Forty cases reportedly involved false claims made by residents about council tax, right-to-buy and housing tenancy fraud.
According to the BBC, head of audit and fraud, Clare Potts, said during the committee meeting: ‘We're looking at making sure we're efficient going forward, so we're focusing on areas of high risk and high value fraud.
‘Where we do need to look at other areas of fraud, we're doing that as efficiently as we can.’
It was also announced during the meeting that legal action would occur if the costs did not outweigh the benefits.
