Public Sector

LONDON (Reuters) - British companies may have fraudulently claimed up to 3.9 billion pounds ($5.1 billion) in public money by accepting funds from a salary support scheme while ordering furloughed staff to still work during lockdown, the spending watchdog said.

The amount of money UK businesses borrowed through the government’s coronavirus support schemes is almost equal to all bank lending for the same period last year, new figures show.

https://www.cityam.com/exclusive-covid-support-almost-equal-to-all-bank-lending-last-year/

Rushed-through coronavirus aid may have led to the loss of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money through fraud and error, MPs have warned.

The latest National Fraud Initiative (NFI) exercise has uncovered £8 million of fraud and overpayments across public services in Wales, compared with £5.4 million in the previous exercise.

Taxpayers  could lose £26bn on coronavirus “bounce back” loans due to fraud, the spending watchdog has found.

The speed at which the furlough scheme and other economic support packages were drawn up has left them open to a ‘very worrying’ amount of fraud, MPs have said in a new report.

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/hastily-drawn-up-furlough-scheme-left-unacceptable-room-for-fraud/#.X4rwQymuDBc.twitter

Services remain disrupted two days after council was hit by a serious incident, as residents are warned to be on their guard

Takeaway pizza chain Papa John’s is investigating allegations that hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money was fraudulently claimed by a franchisee during the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/papa-johns-investigating-claims-of-%C2%A3250000-eat-out-to-help-out-fraud/ar-BB19TnUQ?ocid=st

LONDON (Reuters) - Criminals may have made billions of pounds by exploiting a government loan scheme to help British businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, while large losses are expected from firms unable to repay, the country’s spending watchdog has said.

Police have been asked to investigate alleged voting fraud at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.