The Cost of Every Misdirected Pound

UK local authorities are facing unprecedented financial pressure driven by rising demand, shrinking budgets, and mandated administrative cuts. With the 2025 Spending Review requiring a 15% reduction in administrative spending by 2029, councils must operate with greater efficiency while safeguarding public funds. In this environment, payments integrity—ensuring every pound is correctly sent, received, and accounted for—has become essential to operational resilience.

Fraud continues to escalate sharply. According to the National Anti‑Fraud Network, local authority fraud cases have risen 98.9% over five years, with £265 million detected in 2024–25. When undetected fraud is included, losses could reach £8.8 billion annually. Housing benefit fraud alone led to approximately £600 million in overpayments in 2024. Despite these challenges, counter‑fraud investment delivers strong returns, generating £3.65 in detected fraud for every £1 spent.

Beyond fraud, councils also suffer from substantial “silent losses” due to failed collections—missed payments, broken direct debits, and system inefficiencies—that reduce available funding for frontline services. Maintaining revenue integrity is as critical as preventing fraudulent outflows.

In this climate, trust—once a soft concept—has become a strategic asset. Every misdirected payment, error, or delay erodes confidence among taxpayers, suppliers, and residents. The hidden costs include administrative burden, service delays, budget strain, and reputational damage. To restore and preserve trust, councils increasingly require visibility and control over their entire payments ecosystem.

Digital transformation offers a path forward. AI, automation, and modern verification technologies can reduce manual processing, detect anomalies earlier, and connect historically siloed systems. As fraudsters increasingly adopt AI, councils must adopt equally advanced tools for defense.

A central component of modern payments integrity is Confirmation of Payee (CoP)—a real‑time account‑verification service that ensures funds are sent to the correct, legitimate recipients. CoP helps prevent fraud, reduces errors, and supports both payment issuance and revenue collection. It enables “trust by design,” embedding safeguards directly into systems rather than relying on manual checks.

As councils merge or update legacy systems, CoP serves as a foundational layer of resilience without requiring costly, large‑scale system replacement. Strengthening verification processes is one of the most immediate, high‑impact actions local authorities can take to protect public money and reinforce trust.

Bottomline currently partners with more than 190 local authorities, helping them build secure, modern payment infrastructures that safeguard communities and future‑proof financial management.