COVID-19: Government ‘too sluggish’ to get better taxpayer cash misplaced to fraud

The authorities remains to be being “too slow” to get better taxpayer cash misplaced to fraud and error over the pandemic, MPs have stated.

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) additionally stated Whitehall wants a “step change” in its strategy to danger to be able to stop the same “panic response” sooner or later.

In a wide-ranging report, the group laid naked numerous “repeated problems”.

Total fraud and error throughout COVID employment schemes delivered by HMRC was an estimated £4.5bn, of which the division expects to recoup simply £1.1bn, PAC stated.

“Some increase in fraud and error was an inevitable short-term consequence of providing support quickly, but government is being too slow to recover taxpayer pounds lost,” the report stated.

“Whitehall departments have an opportunity to do better by the taxpayer by prioritising work to tackle current levels of fraud and error; improving how they measure fraud and error so we can be clearer about the extent of the problem and measures to tackle it; and planning and implementing better fraud and error safeguards.”

And the committee additionally discovered the Department of Health and Social Care wasted an “extraordinary” £14.9bn on PPE and associated COVID expenditure throughout the final two years.

“No-one could predict the COVID-19 pandemic, but we could have been better prepared,” the report added.

More on PPE:
COVID-19: PPE storage still costs taxpayers £580,000 a day, new figures reveal

“The scale of the losses incurred in a panic response on issues such as PPE procurement are documented in this report. We need to learn the lesson that there is always unpredictability.”

A Government spokesperson stated: “In the last two years, we have recovered more than £3.1bn of fraud losses, including within COVID-19 schemes, and as the report acknowledges, we have already made significant progress by establishing the Public Sector Fraud Authority.

“However, we’re not complacent, which is why we’re increasing the Government’s Counter-Fraud Profession, growing new applied sciences and boosting abilities and coaching to additional shield the general public purse.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy chief, stated: “This is a damning indictment of eye-watering Tory waste, with Rishi Sunak writing off billions in taxpayers’ money lost to COVID fraud after ignoring basic checks and warnings.”