Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of payments made under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme HMRC have not yet been recorded against a valid National Insurance number; what the value of those payments is; and what his most recent estimate is of when that matching process will be completed.

The Covid-19 schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic and were part of the collective national effort to protect jobs.

The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that we should prioritise getting money to those who need it. The schemes were therefore designed to minimise fraud while not holding up payments unnecessarily.

The schemes were designed to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claims process itself. Our data and risking experts block suspicious claims that show signs of criminal activity.

To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.

It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.

Considering all of the above, HMRC cannot carry out the level of analysis requested and therefore cannot say what proportion of payments under CJRS have not yet been recorded against a valid NI number.