UK may have paid out billions in error in virus support scheme — official
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The British government may have paid out billions of pounds in erroneous or fraudulent applications for its ongoing wages support scheme, aimed at safeguarding jobs in the coronavirus pandemic, a top official has revealed.
The top civil servant at Britain’s tax department, Jim Harra, told a parliamentary committee on Monday that between five and 10 per cent of cash used for the government’s furlough scheme — equivalent to £3.5 billion (US$4.5 billion, 3.7 billion euros) — might have ended up in the wrong hands.
The government has paid out £35.4 billion to finance the bulk of wages for around 10 million workers placed on furlough under a scheme set to end next month.
The amount wrongly paid out “will range from deliberate fraud through to error”, Harra told the panel.
