Covid fraud below the Tories value the taxpayer £10.9 billion
The counter-fraud and error measures during the pandemic under the Conservative Government were accused of being ‘so lax they may as well have left the door wide open’
Covid fraud and error under the Conservatives cost the taxpayer a massive £10.9 billion, it can be revealed.
The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner Tom Hayhoe was tasked with revealing the true scale of pandemic fraud, and a report published on Tuesday will show fraudsters were lining their pockets with ease.
The damning report is expected to blame a lack of anti-fraud controls in Covid schemes that were set up quickly by Ministers, where the rushed rollouts meant “accepting a high level of fraud risk, without plans for managing or mitigating this risk ”.
READ MORE: Rachel Reeves orders hit squad to hunt down Covid fraudsters who ripped off taxpayersREAD MORE: Michelle Mone-linked firm misses deadline to repay £122million to taxpayer over defective PPE
Covid-era schemes in the voluntary repayment window included programmes such as furlough, bounce-back loans, support grants, and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
The report will lay the blame at poorly designed economic support schemes like these, creating a “golden opportunity” for fraudsters.
£10.9 billion would provide a daily free school meal for the UK’s 2.7 eligible million children for eight years – from reception until they were 12-years-old.
A Government source said: “£10.9 billion of our money didn’t just disappear. Tory ministers handed fraudsters a golden opportunity through schemes so lax they may as well have left the door wide open.
“At the very same time that families were struggling, the Tories let money that could have fed a whole generation of children slip through their fingers. It is yet another reminder of the staggering waste and failure that defined their 14 years in office.”
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves had charged Mr Tom Hayhoe with leading efforts to retrieve the cash in a multi-part probe.
The first part of looked into wasteful Tory spending during the pandemic, and uncovered £1.4billion of wasteful taxpayer cash.
These failures saw substandard PPE, including gowns, masks and visors, not inspected for two years, meaning public money could no longer be recouped. Most of the wasted money went on surgical gowns, with more than half (52%) of them being non-compliant.
The Tories ordered mountains of protective kit, which was piled up in shipping containers due to lack of space in storage facilities.
Lengthy delays on checking the surplus surgical gowns, masks and visors meant that warranties had expired by the time the faulty PPE was found.
Recovery action has so far resulted in £182million being returned to the public purse, with some PPE suppliers having been referred to the National Crime Agency for suspected fraud.
Anna Turley, Chair of the Labour Party, has now demanded an apology from the Tories.
She said: “Britain is still paying the price for the Tories’ complete failure to prevent Covid fraud during the pandemic.
“Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives need to finally apologise and explain to the public why they chose to expose their hard-earned cash to exploitation by fraudsters.
“This Labour Government is determined to keep recovering taxpayers’ money lost to Covid fraud, with over £400 million already back in the Treasury. The Government will bring criminals to justice and put taxpayer’s money back where it belongs – in the NHS, police and armed forces.”
A Labour source added: “Whilst NHS workers put themselves on the front line to save lives, the Tories lined the pockets of fraudsters who used a national emergency to rip off the government. Finally this report will lay bare the true scale of their failure.
“We are getting our money back, and we will put it where it belongs – in our schools, our hospitals and our communities.”
It comes after the government won its fights against PPE Medpro – a company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone.
The firm, which was tasked with supplying 25 million surgical gowns during the pandemic, was ordered to repay over £121million for breaching a PPE contract.
The firm, a consortium led by Baroness Mone’s husband, businessman Doug Barrowman, was awarded government contracts by the former Tory administration. The couple have denied wrongdoing.
In September Ms Reeves announced a new hit squad to hunt down Covid fraudsters who ripped off the taxpayer, with the power to fine offenders 100% of the value of the money they owe on all Covid schemes, including Eat Out to Help Out and bounce-back loans.
It is also able to block fraudulent claimants from becoming company directors and put them forward for criminal investigation.
Firms and individuals that wrongly claimed Covid cash were told to return the funds by December under a voluntary repayment scheme.
