Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Sky News on 8 November 2021 that found an increase in the sale of super yachts between 2019 and 2021; and what assessment they have made of the link, if any, between the purchase of such yachts and the payment of furlough money.

We have not made any such assessment. The objective of the CJRS was to support businesses to preserve employer-employee matches by providing a mechanism to pay the wages of furloughed employees. Through easing the financial burden, the CJRS aimed to support jobs, reduce the risk of permanent business closures, and reduce the risk of large losses in incomes, through wage support to furloughed employees.

The scheme succeeded in supporting 11.7 million jobs across the UK, and the Office for National Statistics has found that of all workers who had ever been furloughed, more than nine in ten were still in work in the three months up to June 2021. As per Government guidance, the employer must have paid the full amount they claimed for their employee’s wages to their employee. They also had to pay the associated employee tax, pension, and National Insurance Contributions to HMRC. If they were not able to do that, the employer had to repay the money to HMRC.

The Government put robust measures in place to control error and fraud in our key pandemic support schemes, such as investing over £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce at the Spring Budget 2021.