Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the number of entities that have self-reported funds paid out due to fraud or error in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.

HMRC have taken a supportive and reasonable approach where mistakes have been made, giving customers the opportunity to correct them without fear of sanctions. By law, claimants can notify and amend incorrect claims within 90 days without penalty.

Claimants can return monies that they are not entitled to in a number of ways, for example, via an online digital service or by making an entry in their income or corporation tax return. As HMRC does not yet have all the returns for the periods in which the grants were paid, they are not currently able to quantify the numbers of entities who have returned grants.

As set out in the document that accompanied HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts, claimants have repaid more than £350 million to correct mistakes without HMRC intervention in addition to the compliance results for the schemes. HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes