Generations of taxpayers will pay for Covid response losses

The government has risked and lost ‘unacceptable’ billions of taxpayers’ money in its Covid response - and must account to the generations that will pay for it says the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

In its latest Covid-19 cost tracker update the committee says the total cost of UK government losses in the response to the Covid 19 pandemic remains uncertain but it has clearly exposed the taxpayer to substantial long-term financial risks and sums running into billions of pounds.

The coronavirus job retention scheme alone is estimated to lose £5.3bn to fraud and error - 8.7% of the funding distributed through the scheme. The estimated loss to fraud and error across all Covid-19 response measures is not known but is expected to be at least £15bn across the schemes and loans implemented by HMRC the Department for Work and...