UK Inquiry Tracker

COVID-19 Employment Support Schemes

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 14 Oct 2022 Closed: 1 Jun 2023 Parliament page

In March 2020 the government announced two schemes to support employment during the pandemic: the Coronavirus Job Retention or “furlough” scheme, and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). In total, the two schemes cost close to £100 billion of taxpayers’ money. A report by the National Audit Office has found … Read more In March 2020 the government announced two schemes to support employment during the pandemic: the Coronavirus Job Retention or “furlough” scheme, and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). In total, the two schemes cost close to £100 billion of taxpayers’ money. A report by the National Audit Office has found that the employment support schemes achieved their primary aim of protecting jobs and businesses during the pandemic - with unemployment peaking at just over 5% - and that the actual costs of the schemes fell well below departmental estimates. However, the NAO noted that “Designing schemes at speed, coupled with the inherent uncertainty over the course of the pandemic, meant that the schemes would inevitably have flaws.” The NAO found that “it is likely that several billion pounds have been paid to claimants who saw their incomes increase during the period. The Committee will question senior officials at HMRC on whether the schemes achieved their objectives to support incomes and the labour market and reached those previously excluded from the schemes; how the Departments managed the delivery of the schemes through their later iterations, including attempts to improve the value for money of the schemes by making them more targeted while managing the risk of error and fraud; and how HMRC has estimated the level of error and fraud and undertaken compliance work to detect error and fraud. Commenting on the NAO report on Covid 19 employment support that underlies this inquiry and call for evidence, PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier MP said: “Government's COVID employment support schemes protected millions of people and businesses from hardship during the pandemic. While it established this essential support quickly, billions of pounds were wasted through fraudulent claims and loose controls. Government was too slow to act in response. “HM Revenue & Customs must get a grip on how it measures and tackles fraud and error. Particularly at a time of constrained public finances, this could go a long way to supporting millions of citizens and essential public services.” If you have evidence on the issues raised in this inquiry, please submit it here by November 4 at 18:00. Show less

15 Recommendations

11 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

30 May
2023

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fortieth report from Session 2022-23

8 Mar
2023

Report published

Fortieth Report - COVID employment support schemes

29 Nov
2022

Correspondence

Correspondence from Janet Alexander, Director Compliance Operations Directorate, HMRC, re HMRC Covid-19 Employment Support Schemes – Public…

17 Nov
2022

Oral evidence

COVID-19 Employment Support Schemes

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

17 Nov 2022

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19 Employment Support Schemes

Beth Russell · HM Treasury Janet Alexander · HM Revenue and Customs Jim Harra · HMRC

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fortieth Report - COVID employment support schemes	HC 810	8 Mar 2023	26	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

26 results

2 Recommendation

Fortieth Report - COVID employment…

Gaps and lags in HMRC’s data contributed to the schemes providing excessive support to some,...

Gaps and lags in HMRC’s data contributed to the schemes providing excessive support to some, while others in need were ineligible. We have previously reported that data limitations contributed to some people being excluded from the schemes, including the newly … Read more

HM Treasury

COVID-19 Employment Support Schemes

Activity timeline 4 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Gaps and lags in HMRC’s data contributed to the schemes providing excessive support to some,...

HMRC’s performance in recovering the £2.3 billion incorrectly paid to employers claiming furlough for employees...

HMRC’s decision to close the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce in 2023–24 puts at risk the recovery...

We are concerned that in the absence of effective criminal and civil sanctions there is...

The Departments have yet to fully capture the lessons that must be learnt from the...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

We also asked the Departments whether the evaluations would cover the schemes’ effects on groups...

We pressed the Departments on the schemes’ wider impacts including whether the schemes had contributed...

The Departments told us that in the longer-term they were interested in comparing outcomes from...

In December 2020 we reported that an estimated 1.1 million people were excluded from the...

Weaknesses in the Departments’ data also contributed to the schemes providing support to taxpayers whose...

We asked the Departments whether they now knew what data they were missing and what...

In December 2020 we reported that the age of HMRC’s Self Assessment system made it...

In July 2022, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimated that £4.5 billion had been paid...

As part of our initial inquiry into fraud and error across COVID-19 support schemes in...

We also received written evidence from the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

The main cause of error and fraud on CJRS was furlough paid to employers for...

HMRC established the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce in April 2021 to increase its compliance activities on...

HMRC plans to wind up the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce between April and September 2023, returning...

The government’s policy is to pursue deliberately fraudulent behaviour, but not to penalise applicants for...

We have previously expressed concern about the small number of criminal prosecutions for tax fraud.35...

We asked HMRC why the number of prosecutions was so low and why it was...

While HMRC had by October 2022 exceeded its target to open 30,000 civil cases on...

We have stressed throughout our work examining the COVID-19 pandemic the importance of government learning...

We asked HM Treasury and HMRC what lessons they had learned that could be used...

We asked HM Treasury and HMRC whether they would establish a “how to” guide for...

Correspondence 1 letter