Policy paper

HMRC issue briefing: tackling error and fraud in the Covid-19 support schemes

This briefing explains HMRC's approach to error and fraud in the Covid-19 support schemes.

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The Covid-19 support schemes helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic, and were launched at an unprecedented pace.

Our priority was to get vital money to people quickly, to support people, businesses and the economy, and from the beginning we were clear that the schemes would be targets for fraud and that customers operating at pace and under pressure would make mistakes.

This briefing sets out the measures put place to minimise error and fraud in the schemes from the outset, how we have responded to non-compliance in the schemes, and explains how we have measured our estimates of error and fraud. It brings together, in one place, information that HMRC published today in and alongside its Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022.

Published 18 July 2022
Last updated 13 October 2022 + show all updates
  1. Updated details of the work of the taxpayer protection taskforce and revised error and fraud estimate figures.

  2. The figure '£775 million' corrected to '£762 million' in the 'Compliance activity' section of the issue briefing.

  3. First published.