Almost £1 billion of fraudulent or erroneous cash handouts made to businesses during the Covid pandemic are unlikely to be returned to UK taxpayers, according to the government.
(Bloomberg) — Almost £1 billion of fraudulent or erroneous cash handouts made to businesses during the Covid pandemic are unlikely to be returned to UK taxpayers, according to the government.
In its annual accounts for the period 2021-22, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said its central estimate for “irregular” grant payments was £990 million.
“Due to prioritisation of getting money out of the door the majority of payments made in error are unlikely to be recovered by the Department,” BEIS conceded in its report.
In addition to grant handouts, the government’s Bounce Back Loan program was identified as being open to fraudulent claims, as firms were able to self-certify their eligibility rather than face the usual scrutiny before funds were released.
The department estimated that around 8% of claims made for Covid support through Bounce Back Loans were fraudulent, and accepted that the true figure may be higher than that. The new estimate for the amount of money lost to fraud was however lower than previous forecasts.
BEIS said it was working on recovering losses made from fraudulent claims and seeking prosecutions for those committing fraud and financial crime. The story was first reported by the Financial Times.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.