An independent report has estimated that fraud linked to Covid relief programmes cost the UK government £10.9 billion.
Prepared by anti-fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe, the report claims the response by the then Conservative government involved vast public spending that increased vulnerability to fraud and error.
Public bodies were ill-equipped for a crisis demanding urgent and large-scale expenditure, and safeguards against potential fraud proved insufficient, the report states.
Fraud was especially evident in contracts for personal protective equipment, which overwhelmed supply chains, and in support measures for small businesses.
Loans were often granted based on self-certification with insufficient checks to prevent abuse, according to the findings.
Of the £10.9 billion estimated to have been lost to fraud and errors, £1.8 billion has been recovered, though much of the remaining funds are now deemed unrecoverable.
The UK endured one of Europe’s heaviest pandemic death tolls, with around 226,000 deaths reported.
A public inquiry revealed in November that 23,000 deaths in England could have been prevented had the first lockdown been introduced earlier, during the initial Covid outbreak from March to July 2020.
The inquiry criticised the government, then led by Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for being too late in taking the virus seriously as it spread globally.
