COVID fraud inflicts 11 billion pound hit to UK public finances, report shows

MANCHESTER: Fraudulent claims for taxpayer funds during the COVID-19 pandemic cost Britain’s public finances 10.9 billion pounds ($14.5 billion), the government said on Tuesday, citing the findings of a new independent report.

The report from the COVID Counter Fraud Commissioner showed many schemes, like Bounce Back Loans and Eat Out to Help Out, rolled out by the former Conservative government lacked safeguards against fraud, the government said.

“Leaving the front door wide open to fraud has cost the British taxpayer 10.9 billion pounds — money that should have been funding our public services, supporting families, and strengthening our economy,” finance minister Rachel Reeves said in a statement.

The government said it had so far recouped 400 million pounds in efforts to recover some of those losses.

“The report highlights that counter fraud controls were ‘inadequate’ and only improved later in the pandemic,” the finance ministry said.

Authored by Tom Hayhoe, who has previously headed health service organisations, the report highlighted weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting as the main reasons for the 10.9 billion-pound loss.

Britain recorded more than 230,000 deaths from COVID, a similar death rate to the United States and Italy but higher than elsewhere in western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

An inquiry, which former prime minister Boris Johnson ordered in May 2021, delivered a blistering assessment of his government’s response to COVID, criticising his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking its own rules and castigating his top adviser Dominic Cummings.