"Covid-era policies initiated by the previous Conservative government include the furlough wage subsidies, 'bounce-back' loans, the Eat Out to Help Out programme and one-off grants. They were credited with propping up the economy throughout the Covid lockdowns, however, there has been criticism that the speed of the roll-out of financial support and a lack of eligibility checks led to widespread error and fraud."
"Rushed rollouts meant "accepting a high level of fraud risk, without plans for managing or mitigating this risk," it will say. In September the government launched a voluntary repayment scheme for people and businesses to return pandemic scheme money with no questions asked until the end of December."
"Mr Hayhoe has been tasked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves with trying to recover the public money lost to fraud and underperforming contracts using his experience in procurement as the former chair of an NHS trust. His previous reports found that pandemic-era PPE contracts cost the British taxpayer 1.4bn on undelivered contracts and unusable gowns, masks and gloves. Only a small fraction of that - 182m - has been recovered by HM Treasury."
Nearly £11bn was lost through fraud and error in Covid-19 support programmes. Covid-era policies included furlough wage subsidies, bounce-back loans, the Eat Out to Help Out programme, and one-off grants. Rapid rollouts and minimal eligibility checks created high fraud risk and weak anti-fraud controls in schemes set up quickly by ministers in Boris Johnson's government. Fraudsters exploited the opportunity created by these conditions. A voluntary repayment scheme allowed people and businesses to return pandemic funds with no questions asked until the end of December. Recovery efforts focus on reclaiming public money and investigating underperforming contracts and possible criminal offences in PPE procurement.
Read at www.bbc.com
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