Billions of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud and mistakes in pandemic support

The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) continues to make slow progress on its counter fraud activities related to the bounce back loan scheme and its lack of curiosity about lenders’ performance increases the risk of losses for the taxpayer says the Public Accounts Committee in a new report. The situation is unchanged since the department’s update in July 2022 - of an estimated £2.2bn lost to fraud and error only about £10m has been recovered. The committee found that recovery efforts have been hindered by delays in identifying fraud and error with suspected money already spent and some trails now long gone cold.

The report also notes that the size of the Companies Register is growing which BEIS says reflects international trends and entrepreneurial activity. But confidence in the system is undermined by errors and inaccuracies....