Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

CoronavirusLatest NewsFurlough

More than 7,000 furlough investigations carried out by HMRC

by Ashleigh Webber 28 Jun 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 28 Jun 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

HM Revenue & Customs made five arrests and carried out more than 7,300 investigations into suspected abuse of the furlough scheme during its first 12 months of operation, figures have shown.

According to data obtained via a Freedom of Information request by law firm BLM, HMRC undertook 7,384 “compliance interventions” related to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) by the end of Q1 2021.

Furlough

Think tank urges caution on furlough withdrawal

Furloughed staff ‘don’t want to go back to work’

Compliance interventions are investigations carried out by HMRC to protect or recover funds lost through fraud, tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance. Some would have related to errors made by employers submitting claims.

As of 28 March 2021, five people had been arrested in relation to suspected abuse of the CJRS. HMRC did not confirm whether any had been prosecuted, according to BLM.

Iskander Fernandez, partner and lawyer at BLM, said: “As is the case with any scheme where fiscal support is provided, loopholes will emerge that can be fraudulently exploited.

“In hindsight, it is easy to say that more should have been done by way of due diligence on each applicant but given the scale of the pandemic and all the uncertainty the nation was gripped with, it is hardly surprising that gaps emerged. Some fraudsters will have taken full advantage of the situation to line their own pockets.

Fernandez said that it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the UK government had lost “billions” to fraudulent activity when taking various other business safety nets into account, such as the Bounce Back Loans and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

“Whilst some of these interventions could well be the result of unintentional error, the Treasury’s decision to invest £100m into a specialist coronavirus fraud taskforce shows that the government is clearly keen to crack down on any misuse of these schemes,” he said.

“It’s still unclear as to whether this funding will be sufficient to tackle the level of suspected of fraud, however, and what the make-up of the specialist task force will be. Will it be pooled from existing resources, causing an imbalance in other teams, or will there be a recruitment drive by HMRC?”

Almost £18 billion has so far been paid out under CJRS.

From Thursday 1 July, employers must pay 10% of wages for furloughed staff while the government pays 70%, and from 1 August employers and the government must pay 20% and 60% respectively. The scheme will be withdrawn completely on 30 September.

The Resolution Foundation has warned of “dangerous complacency” as the furlough scheme is scaled back, and suggested that the labour market has not recovered as much as employers have been led to believe.

HR Director opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more HR director jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor at OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Think tank urges caution on furlough withdrawal
next post
Boredom, money and health worries affecting lockdown wellbeing

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

‘Low flight risk’ designer wins £100k age discrimination...

5 Jul 2022

How to respond to an HMRC furlough enquiry

18 May 2022

P&O Ferries told to return £11m furlough money...

28 Apr 2022

Single parents need urgent support to re-enter work

11 Mar 2022

MPs press HMRC to recover furlough funds lost...

11 Feb 2022

Nursery worker dismissed while pregnant was discriminated against

7 Feb 2022

Treasury writes off three-quarters of Covid support grants...

17 Jan 2022

Response to Sunak measures: New Covid funding ‘just...

21 Dec 2021

Treasury could afford more business support, says economics...

21 Dec 2021

Bring back furlough if restrictions introduced, suggests IMF

14 Dec 2021
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more
  • The ultimate guide to payroll for small businesses PROMOTED | You’ve started a business that has expanded to the point of requiring more staff to meet demand. Congratulations!...Read more
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+