DEVON County Council employees claimed more than £2million in expenses last year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shown.

In total, £2,446,781 was claimed by employees in 2023/24, nearly double that of five years ago when the figure stood at £1,263,353, the FOI shows.

This comes as a recent auditor’s report of Devon County Council found that the council was paying expenses to staff without having the receipts to prove the expenditure was actually made and travel costs were being claimed without saying what the trip was for.

The amount of expenses claimed by council employees has risen each year since 2019/20.

£1,363,962 was claimed in 2020/21; £1,732,934 in 2021/22 and £2,201,025 in 2022/23.