Fraud and errors in Covid jobs schemes 'cost around £4.5billion'

The National Audit Office said pandemic support programs were protecting jobs and businesses - but the speed of design led to "significant levels fraud and error"

Boris Johnson's government has introduced two Covid support schemes (

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Fraud and mistakes in the Government's Covid jobs support schemes have cost the taxpayer a colossal £4.5billion, according to a new report from the public spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office said that while pandemic measures were protecting jobs and businesses, the speed of design was leading to "significant levels of fraud and error".

During the nationwide shutdowns, the Government's furlough scheme made payments totaling nearly £69billion, covering 11.7million individual jobs.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme has also provided grants worth over £28 billion to 2.9 million people.

But the NAO criticized the government for not doing more to prevent errors and fraudulent claims, with large amounts "unlikely ever to be recovered".

He said HMRC's latest estimate for the total fraud and error in the two systems is estimated at £4.5 billion, or 4.6% of the total cost.

But even that estimate is subject to "considerable uncertainty", according to the auditors, with figures ranging from £3.2 billion to £6.3 billion.

NAO chief Gareth Davies says furlough and self-employment schemes have prevented millions of job losses 'but billions have gone to people whose incomes have increased during the pandemic , and billions more have been lost to fraud and error."

Labour's Angela Rayner denounces "unacceptable waste" (

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He added: "The government needs to improve how it estimates levels of fraud and error and allocate sufficient resources to address this issue."

Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, said: "The incompetence of this Tory Government has led to...