Tue, 09 Dec 2025

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 Much of £11bn Covid scheme fraud 'beyond recovery', report says

The response to the pandemic led to "enormous outlays of public money which exposed it to the risk of fraud and error", a report says.
The response to the pandemic led to "enormous outlays" of public money, exposing it to risk of fraud and error. Employment support schemes set up by the previous Conservative government suffered £5bn in fraud. £1.8bn has been recovered, but much of the shortfall is now unrecoverable. The report recommends that fraud prevention should be more embedded into future disaster responses. New laws extended the amount of time authorities had to uncover fraud cases. Mr Hayhoe said that "people were prepared to pull a fast one and make money out of the taxpayer in a crisis", highlighting weak accountability, poor data quality, and inadequate contracting as contributing factors. £13.6bn was spent on PPE procurement, with 11 billion items unused by 2024. Losses estimated at £10bn from over-ordering and £324m of fraud. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme and other business loan schemes are also criticized for creating vulnerabilities to fraud and error, estimated to have cost the public around £1.7bn.
  >>