A major report by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Covid fraud commissioner reports today an eye-watering £10.9billion was lost during the pandemic to fraudsters and error
All you need to know about the major Covid fraud report published today
- Covid fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe was tasked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in 2024 to examine the true scale of fraud in Covid-era policies in schemes like furlough, ‘bounce-back’ loans, the Eat Out to Help Out and one-off grants. He is also helping ministers attempt to recover the cash.
- His 110-page report found an eye-watering £10.9billion was lost during the pandemic to fraudsters – enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7million eligible children for eight years. Often the schemes were rolled out with huge fraud risks and no early safeguards costing taxpayers millions, the Treasury said.
- Around £1.8billion has since been recovered but “much of the shortfall is now beyond recovery”, the report warns. While it says some departments should continue work recovering lost money, others have “concluded” work. In the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs alone, for example, an estimated £4.6million was detected in fraud and error – with just £0.2million recovered. But the report says: “There are no further opportunities for detection and recovery action that would offer good value for money, therefore its work is concluded”.
- Under a Covid fraud hotline, members of the public have come forward to report over 300 allegations of fraud, according to the report. The allegations have a total value of £35million.
- Covid fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe said: “When the spirit of Dunkirk and the Blitz were evoked during Covid-19, the opportunism of the black marketeers like Dad’s Army’s Private Walker appeared to be forgotten.”
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves responds to the long-awaited report, saying: “Leaving the front door wide open to fraud has cost the British taxpayer £10.9 billion — money that should have been funding our public services, supporting families, and strengthening our economy. We have started returning this money to the British people and we will leave no stone unturned in rooting out the fraudsters who profited from pandemic negligence.”
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READ THE FULL REPORT HERE