Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

£4.5bn lost to fraud in three COVID schemes as Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme recorded 9.5% rate of fraud, HMRC says

£4.5bn lost to fraud in three COVID schemes as Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme recorded 9.5% rate of fraud, HMRC says

The revelation emerges during a hearing of the Treasury Committee, which hears the HMRC seized a non-fungible token cryptocurrency asset and is "ahead of the game" compared to "most other tax authorities" on the potential use of cryptocurrencies for tax evasion, according to CEO Jim Harra.

The total value of fraud in three COVID-19 schemes totalled £4.5bn, of which the taxpayer is only going to get £1.1bn back, the head of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has told MPs.

Speaking at the Treasury Committee on Wednesday, HMRC chief executive Jim Harra said the £4.5bn was lost to fraud in the furlough, self employed support, and Eat Out to Help Out COVID-19 schemes.

Eat Out to Help Out, which ran for just a month in July 2020 after it was introduced by then chancellor Rishi Sunak, had a particularly high level of fraud of around 9%, higher than any other scheme and "much higher" than would normally be expected in the tax regime generally, Mr Harra said.

The scheme operated on a self-assessment basis which relied on cafes and restaurants declaring correct amounts to HMRC.

As part of efforts to clamp down on fraud, arrests were made, which in turn resulted in "quite a few voluntary disclosures" from restaurants who volunteered that they'd made a mistake in their claim and repaid, Mr Harra said.

"I'm aware of one case where a restaurant claimed to have a record month in sales during Eat Out to Help Out at the same time as they were claiming to have furloughed all of their staff," he said.

"You'd be surprised at what people think we won't join up."


Jim Harra of HMRC

Last month, the windup was announced of the dedicated anti-fraud squad, the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, set up to recoup billions fraudulently taken from COVID-19 support schemes.

The squad recovered hundreds of millions less than intended as less had been stolen than originally thought.

Mr Harris said the more than 1,250 staff allocated to the taskforce would be redeployed, and while the taskforce will come to an end, compliance work on COVID-19 error and fraud will continue.

HMRC became the first law enforcement agency to seize a non-fungible token cryptocurrency asset, Mr Harra told MPs.

When asked about the potential use of cryptocurrencies for tax evasion, Mr Harra said HMRC is "ahead of the game" compared to "most other tax authorities".

"There is no doubt that they are an asset class along with several others that are used to try and hide the proceeds of evasion from us," Mr Harra said.

"In addition to managing the risks that [crypto] poses to us, we also need to make sure that we get the tax administration right so that we also enable the crypto asset industry to develop in the same way as any other industry."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×