In December 2020 we reported that an estimated 1.1 million people were excluded from the initial phases of CJRS because HMRC did not have sufficient data to verify claims. These people comprised 0.7 million limited company directors who took their income as dividends and 0.4 million short-term or freelancer workers missing payroll. Limited company directors qualified for the furlough scheme to the extent that they paid themselves through their PAYE system. However, as HMRC acknowledged in 2020, many limited company directors opted to pay themselves a small amount in this way, and rely predominantly on dividend income.14 We received written evidence from the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, which told us that it had presented to HM Treasury alternative proposals for how limited company directors could have been supported, but the schemes were not extended to this group.15 In December 2020 we also reported that 0.2 million newly self-employed people missed out on the first three SEISS grants because HMRC did not hold enough data about their self-employment. We recommended that the Departments should investigate whether more data within and outside of the tax system could be used to determine eligibility for currently excluded groups. The Departments responded by saying they had to balance the desire to provide support to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, with the need to protect public funds from error and fraud. To strike this balance, they said both schemes were 12 Qq 5, 8: Office of National Statistics, Movements out of work for those aged over 50 years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, March 2022, https://www.ons.gov.uk/ employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/ movementsoutofworkforthoseagedover50yearssincethestartofthecoronaviruspandemic/2022–03–14, (accessed 1 December 2022) 13 Qq 49, 112–114 14 Committee of Public Accounts, Covid-19: Support for jobs, paras 13, 15; C&