Compliance activity in CJRS misuse likely to grow

Three years on from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and almost two years since grant payments ended can the organisations kept afloat by the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) now assume that HMRC compliance checks are over?

In short no. The criticism that the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) levelled at HMRC in its report Covid employment support schemes (tinyurl.com/hocpac810) may well generate a more proactive approach and it’s unlikely that CJRS compliance activity by HMRC has gone away. In July 2022 HMRC estimated that most error and fraud of the employment support schemes arose within CJRS and equated to £3.5bn.

Tribunal cases have also arisen of failure to meet the strict criteria for employees to qualify for a claim under CJRS. Even when unintended errors are made or outsourced professionals calculated or made the claims ...