Rotterdam council officials have tracked down €6m in fraudulent welfare benefit payments and saved a further €11m by stopping or reducing other benefit claims.

Rotterdam alderman Marco Florijn also said 3,300 people had their benefits reduced or delayed because they had not done enough to find a job. This generated a further €1.3m, Florijn said.

Tip-offs from the public and better coordination between the council, tax authorities and banks led to more welfare fraud being identified, he said.